Afterlife
by Firestorm2004
Summary: There's a life after death according to the girls. But what will they do when Conan is gone, Shinichi is mad, and Heiji doesn't know what hit him. Who will survive? Reposted and complete. Added Ending Notes.
1. Confessions

Afterlife

Disclaimer: I don't own characters in the stories. They belong to Gosho Aoyama. I just borrowed them for awhile. (_Sniff_ They returned after I was done!)

Chapter 1 - Confessions

The computer beeped, signaling that it had finished and was displaying the results of the test. Ai pushed back her chair from the table and walked over to it. As she read the results, Ai's mind refused to believe it. _APTX 4896 just doesn't have this kind of reaction. I know. I created it._ Even so, the computer was flashing her the unhid truth. Disturbed, Ai went over the equations and variable that she had given the computer for the test, hoping that somehow she had made a mistake. As she found more and more of the equations correct, Ai started to get down right scared. She pushed back her chair and fished out her Detective Boys' badge, while at the same time trying to calm her beating heart.

"Edogawa-kun?" She spoke into the microphone that was on the back of the badge.

"Yeah? What's up? Anything wrong Haibara-san?" Came Conan's reply through the speaker on the back of the badge.

"I think that we may have a major problem."

------------

The slamming of the front door, followed by set of running feet, pulled Agasa out of the nap he had been taking on the front room sofa. Wiping the sleep from his tired eyes, Agasa was greeted with the rare sight of Edogawa Conan running down the hall, heading for Ai's lab. Conan's face was not his usual childlike happiness. Instead, it had true fear painted all over it. _I wonder what has him all worked up. The only thing that could make him this scared would be if the Black Organization found out who he really is. And if that was so, we would all be dead right now, so I don't think that that is a possibility._

Agasa started to head down the hall, but then decided against it. Shinichi may be his friend, but when it was something bad enough to make him run thou out the house with his shoes on, then he might want to stay out of the way. So instead, Agasa headed to the kitchen to make a quick snack, for Shinichi would need it after the initial adrenaline wore off.

Ai turned around as the footsteps down the hall announced that Conan had arrived.

"Ok, what is such a problem that you would actually contact me while I was with Ran?" Conan asked, going straight to the point. Right now he didn't feel like walking around in circles. If Ai was surprised by his question, she hid it well behind her poker face.

"The APTX 4869 has shown some interesting results. Remember the DNA that I took from you earlier?' She asked him. Conan nodded, remembering the incident quiet well. "Well, I ran it through the computer, and got the results just now. According to everything I know, you won't survive to make it back to your true age just by growing up. In fact, if I have it right, you have about 4 days until it will either kill you, or make you start growing younger. Either choice, the end result is that you will no longer be here."

"Ai, what about you?"

"Me? That's a funny question. When I put my own DNA through the computer it came up with a different result. According to the information, I will be spared your fate. In fact, if I am correct, I actually will return back to myself in about 100 hours."

"So why is it death for me, but not for you?"

"I really don't know." Ai said, feeling entering her voice for the first time in a long while. "I really don't know. If I could make it different, I would. Still, I will try until I can't do anything else to find away to spare you that fate." As the tears started streaming down her face, Ai turned away from Conan. "I don't know what I could do though. I've tried everything."

"Haibara-san…"

"Leave me Edogawa-kun. I've got work to do."

Conan sighed as he turned around and walked. "Thanks for the help, Ai-chan."

Ai jumped as Conan used the familiar form of her name. In all the time that they had known each other, neither had called the other by the familiar form. Instead, they acted like they were barely friends. Just colleges searching for a cure to their illnesses. "Thank you for your friendship Conan-kun." Ai whispered at the retreating form of an 8 year-old.

------------

Conan stared at his ceiling, numbly going over what Ai had told him. _Results … kill you or make you grow younger … 4 days_. How was he going to tell Ran? If there was no way that Shinichi could come back, he had to tell her. She deserved to know. After all, he had lied to her for months now, living in her own house, under her 'protection'. Wasn't he the one who believed in 'One truth'? He, who had been telling lies to the person who had mattered the most to him? _God, I feel like a complete hypocrite._

The door opening was the only thing that kept him from falling into a deeper funk. "Conan-kun? Is everything alright?" Ran asked, concern clearly written across her face.

"Ran-neechan?"

"Conan-kun, you have been depressed ever since you left Agasa's house. What's wrong? You can tell me. I'll help you with it. You don't have to be alone."

Ran! Did you have to ask it that directly? Why couldn't you have been less worried tonight? Oh well, the question has been asked. Do I tell her the truth that I am going to die in 4 days, or do I let her go on innocently believing that I can come back and that 'Conan-kun' won't disappear?

"Ran…"

To say that dropping the 'neechan' surprised Ran was an understatement. "C.. Co.. Conan-kun?"

"Ran … There is something I need to tell you." Regret started to wash all over Conan's face. "Ran, I'm not who you think I am. I'm not even who I thought I could be for you."

The seriousness in Conan's voice removed all remarks that Ran had just been about to say. "Conan-kun, what do you mean _not who you think I am_?" She asked with all sincerity. "If your not who I think you are, then who are you."

"Ran, I am … I am… Damn it! I can't even tell it to your face right now!"

"Conan-kun? You're starting to scare me."

"Not Conan-kun any more Ran. Not Conan, Kudo."

"WHAT?" Ran's mind immediately brought up the past months of trying to prove/disprove that Conan and Shinichi were the same person. "What do you mean? I've seen you and Shinichi together. You can't be the same person!"

"No Ran. I **AM** Shinichi. The time's that you've seen the two of us together, has been when someone else played for me. I want to end the lies now. I want to just be back to myself."

"But Co…Shinichi, how is this possible? People just don't turn into little kids. That's just things out of fairy tales."

"Not now. Remember Tropical land? Remember when I ran away from you telling you that I would catch up with you later? That was when it happened. That was the night 'Conan' was born. Those people in black that where on the rollercoaster with us also happened to do some illegal transactions that night. I came across them but was found out. They knocked me out and them force-fed me a poison that was supposed to kill me. Instead it turned me back into a little child. They think that I am dead. If they found out that I was otherwise, they would have come after me, killing everyone from the kids to Agasa to you. That was why I created Conan. It was to protect you. I didn't mean for it to go on this long. Damn it, it was supposed to be a few weeks at most."

"Shinichi, why didn't you trust me?" The pain was visible in her eyes. "Why?"

"Because if one of us ever slipped up, if one hint was said at the wrong moment, they would have come for us. They would have left none alive. I first thought that the Black Organization was a small gang. Now I know it's a huge, multi-nation group."

"Why are you finally telling be about this now? Have you defeated them? Are you going to return back to yourself?"

Conan yawned. "If only. Ai-chan gets that fate. Me, I get another."

"Ai? What does Ai have to do with this?" She said, thinking of the blond girl.

"Ai created the APTX 4896, the poison that was given to me." Ran's head jerk showed her disbelief.

"How is that possible? Ai is just an 8 year-old. Unless…"

"Unless she was like me? Yes. Ai's real name is Miyano Shiho. She and her sister worked for the black organization for a time. When her sister was killed, Shiho wanted out. She refused to cooperate with them any longer. While waiting for her associates to remove her, Shiho took one of the poisons that she had created, thinking that it would kill her. Instead it turned her into a kid, just like me."

"But why do you work with her then?" Ran asked, a little afraid.

"She is trying to create a cure for the poison." Came Conan's tired response.

"Why did you say that she gets the fate of returning to herself, but you get another one? Don't tell me you …die?"

"That's exactly what will happen. Ai-chan ran some tests through the computer, and that was the response. In 4 days, I will either be dead, or growing younger as the time passes."

"NO! Shinichi you can't! Not after I just found you again!"

"I'm sorry Ran. I'm truly am." And with that Conan feel deep asleep in Ran's lap.

"SHINICHI!"

------------

After spending minutes lost in her own world of thought, Ran stared down at the small not-so-young boy in her lap. When she had shouted his _true_ name, it hadn't woken him up at all. Conan looked so tired that she couldn't help but mother him a little. _When he like this, you'd never guess that he really is an 18 year-old_, She thought as she took of his glasses and laid him on his bed. Still numb with shock, Ran covered the sleeping boy up. _There must be a way that I can help him. I can't lose him again. Not just after finding out who he really is._ Ran turned to walk quietly out the door, when she realized that Conan hadn't told her how he found the Black Organization in the first place. She did remember those guys on the rollercoaster, but how did he know that it wasn't just a small gang instead of a multi-nation group.

The knock on the door made Ran jump. She quickly turned around at was greeted with the view of her father poking his head into the room. "Ran? Is everything all right? I heard you shout the detective's name." Kogoro said looking, for once in his life, concerned.

"Yeah. I just was thinking about Shinichi. I'm just glad I didn't wake Conan-kun up with my yelling."

"Why do you still go after that no good detective? It's not like anyone else doesn't want to date you."

"DAD! Don't talk about Shinichi that way! He's a great detective."

"He's a no good, run away detective. He left you. Why hurt yourself more? Forget about him."

"I can't Tousan. I just can't. Not when I know how he feels." Ran said, surprising herself that she was protecting him.

"If he liked you, then why did he leave you? It seems that he is more interested in the cases than in my daughter!"

Ran started to get angry "Now dad! He can't help it if someone needs him."

"I just thought that he would have better priorities. After all, if he wants to be my son-in-law, he needs to show me that he can handle it properly."

"Handle what! And don't you dare say me!"

"What? Do you expect me to let any man have you? He must show that he can care for you."

"DAD! You don't need to act like I'm some object to be used. Shinichi knows better than to try that. And so do you, unless I need to refresh our memory." She punched the wall to prove her point, leaving a nice sized hole where she had it.

Kogoro's eyes grew big as he looked at the hole. "Uh… I'm sure you can take care of yourself. Bye." He stammered.

Ran's anger cooled as she flashed an evil grin at her dad's retreating form. Sometimes it was just so fun to scare him. And Shinichi too, now that she thought about it. And speaking of the devil, what was she going to do? Who could she talk to? Certainly not Conan or Agasa, considering they were the source of the problem. A wild thought crossed her mind. What about Kazuha? She nearly grinned as she fished out her cell phone. Kazuha would know what to do. After all, she kept such a good control on Heiji.

Ran walked out of the room and quietly shut the door as she dialed Kazuha's number. **Bring … bring … bring …Come on Kazuha answer your phone! ****Bring …**_ **"I'm sorry, I can't answer my phone right now. Please leave me a message, and I will try to get back to you. Arigato."**_

****

_Damn, Kazuha doesn't have her phone with her._ "Kazuha-chan, it Ran. Can you give me a call as soon as you can? I really need to talk with you. It's about … it's about …" Ran tried to speak without getting emotional, but it was like trying to hold back a flood with your hands. "It's about Shinichi! I really need to talk. Please call soon. Please …" Ran shut off the phone. She just sat down on the floor where she was, crying her heart out. _Don't leave me! Shinichi! Don't leave me!_

The next morning …

Conan woke with a start. The nightmare that he had was horrifying to say the least. Ever since he had transformed into a kid he had had a nightmare about losing Ran, but not one this bad. Not one where he not only lost her, but she knew who he was and hated his guts. Blinking the tears from his eyes, Conan got out of bed and dressed for the day. He was just glad that it was a Saturday and not a weekday. This meant that he could talk with Heiji for quite a while. And he needed to talk. After what he and Ran had said last night, he wasn't sure that he could face her. And falling asleep in her lap? He knew he was tired, but he hadn't realized that he was that tired. He should go talk with Ran, but he was afraid that if he did, he might say something stupid. Something stupid to make her hate him.

Opening his bedroom door, Conan looked down the hall. There was no one insight. That suited him just fine. Conan tiptoed downstairs and put on his shoes. Just as he was about to open the front door, he heard a noise coming from the living room. "Shinichi … don't go … don't leave … me"

Frantic, Conan looked around for Ran. He finally found her sleeping on the couch, using one of the pillows as a teddy bear. As she mentioned his name, she hugged the pillow tighter. Shinichi smiled as he watched Ran for a few more minutes. _She's so cute that way. I wish I could stick around, but I can't. Sorry Ran. I always thought that I could be there for you. No one regrets it more than I._

His heart aching, Conan walked to the front door and opened it. After he had walked outside, shutting the door quietly behind him so as not to wake Ran, Conan walked to the phone booth. Putting in the coins, Conan dialed a number that he knew very well.

"Moshi Moshi."

"Hattori."

"Hello Kudo. What's up?"

"Are you in town?"

"Yeah, just arrived last night with Kazuha."

"Can you come pick me up?"

"Why?"

"I'll tell you one you get over here. I'm at the agency right know."

"Did you know that Ran called Kazuha?"

"No."

"What's going on between you and Ran right now? She didn't sound to happy according to Kazuha."

"Long story. To make it short, she knows who I am."

"…" It sounded as though Heiji had dropped his cell phone.

"Heiji?"

"…" Now it sounded like he had picked up his phone, but was still in shock.

" Heiji! Pull yourself together!"

"H … How did she find out?"

"I told her last night."

"YOU told her? WOW! She must have been mad."

"Actually, more like disappointed and hurt. I'll explain why once you get over here."

"Sure. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thanks Hattori."

"No problem, Kudo."

------------

Conan fought back tears as he gripped Heiji's jacket while he sat in the back of the motorcycle. He just wanted to get away. Far away for right now, and talk about it with someone who would understand. He would have talked about it with Ran, but she was the problem. That was why he was glad that Heiji had actually found out who he really was. It gave him someone to talk to when things were really bad. Of course, Heiji being Heiji would joke about it in the times after this, but right now he was as sincere as anyone could be.

"Where are we going?" Conan shouted into the wind.

"A secluded park that not many know about. We should be there in a few more minutes, if you think that you can hang on that long." Heiji shouted back, all humor removed from his voice. He knew that right now Conan didn't want to have him wise-cracking at him right now. This just wasn't normal Kudo behavior. Nothing seemed to be right when he picked up Conan.

**Conan stood up, off the stairs, as Heiji expertly guided his motorcycle to a stop a few feet from him. From a look at Conan's face, Heiji guessed that he had been crying. About what, well, that wasn't hard to guess when you knew Kudo like he did. He would even bet his motorcycle on it. Conan's problem was Ran.**

**"You made it. Can we go somewhere where we can talk without being bothered or overheard?" Was all he got from the small teenager. When he gave the affirmative, the boy hopped on the back and gripped his jacket, clearly waiting for him to go. So he had driven off, trying to think of a place as he went.**

It wasn't until a few minutes ago that he had thought about the park which was a few miles from his home in Osaka. He and Kazuha had gone there a few time when they wanted to be alone, so he knew the way very well. When they had arrived, Conan jumped off of the bike and waited impatiently as Heiji shut of the bike and got off. Conan followed Heiji to a small part that was surrounded by tress, making an effective shield against the world. It also helped when there was hardly anyone in the park, and no one was close at all to the two teenagers.

Once they reached the center of the grove, Heiji plopped down on the ground. Conan followed suit. "Okay, Kudo. What's wrong? I know it's something to do with Neechan, so spill the beans. Why did you decide to tell her last night out of all the nights?"

"Heiji, promise me something. Promise me that you'll look after Ran."

"What!"

"You heard me. Promise me you'll look after her."

"Why aren't you going to do it? She likes you, not me. You can still watch her as 'Conan'."

"No, I can't. Not in at most 4 days, anyway."

"Where are you going to be. Don't tell me that you're going away. That will break her heart." Conan usually didn't ask favors. For him to push this hard, he must be either scared out of his wits, or else something really bad will happen to him. Something he couldn't avoid.

"I'm going away. But not as you think. In 4 days, I will be dead, or growing younger."

"…"

"Promise me, Heiji. Promise me."

"W… Why?"

"Ai-chan ran some test yesterday. The results were stunning to say the least. According to the results, I will die in 4 days or grow so young that I end up dying anyways. Ai-chan's fate is better than mine, though. She gets to return to her bigger self."

"Why? What's the difference between you two? Why does she get the easier way? Damn it Kudo, Why?" Heiji shouted at him, growing angry.

"I wish that I knew, Heiji. Can't you see why I need your promise? If you do, then it will make this easier on me. At least I'll know that Ran is taken care of. Please?"

"Kudo." Heiji spoke solemnly, staring into the younger boy's eyes. "I give you my word as a detective that I will make sure she is taken care of."

"Thanks. I just hope this won't be necessary. Ai-chan said that she was going to work on a cure for me, but I wanted someone to look after Ran incase the worst happened."

"That's what friends are for. Though you do realize, she'll never forgive you for leaving her this soon."

"Oh, I do. I do."

The conversation then changed and grew as the two friends started talking about other things. To anyone else, they would look just like a teenager talking with his younger brother. But to them, it was trying to forget what most likely would happen in a few days.

------------

**Bring …Bring … Bring …**

_Uh … too tired … must wake up … phone ringing_ Ran 'forced' herself awake to the noise of her cell phone's ring, using it as a lifeline. She opened her eyes, and looked around for her phone. After a few seconds, she spotted it sitting on a table where she had put it last night after calling Kazuha. She reached for the phone and looked at the caller ID as she picked it up. _Toyama Kazuha_ it read. Ran quickly answered her cell.

"Moshi Moshi. Kazuha-chan! I really need to talk with you." Sleep had helped calm her down, but she felt like she still needed to talk with someone. "Can you come over?"

"Ran-chan? Is everything alright? You sounded pretty upset when you left a message last night."

"I'm better, but I still want to talk with you. When can you come over?"

"Um… let me check. Maybe Heiji can give me a ride on his motorcycle." Kazuha's voice pulled away as Ran heard her shout for Heiji. A few minutes later, she was back. "Um… Ran-chan? Heiji left a little while ago. I don't know where he went, so I'll have to take the subway. I should be there in an hour."

"Thanks Kazuha-chan."

"See you when I get over there." With that said, Kazuha hung up her phone with Ran following suit.

Then Ran realized that she had forgotten about breakfast. A shout from the kitchen let her know that her father hadn't forgotten, though. She stood up and headed to the kitchen to begin her father's breakfast once again.

------------

Ai quickly brought the DNA test back to the table. She had been working on a cure overnight, but was nowhere near finished. If she hoped to have it finished before Conan 'disappeared', then she would need to spend every waking moment on it. Even if all it did was stop his death and kept him as Conan, that would give her more time. She poured herself over her equipment, her mind working 3 tangents and creating a possible 4th. She had to get it right the first time.

------------

The knock on the door almost wasn't heard over Kogoro's tv. While her dad watched his program, Ran quietly excused herself and went to answer it. When she opened it, she was greeted to the sight of Toyama Kazuha. "KAZUHA-CHAN!" Ran shouted excitedly, hugging her friend.

"Hi to you too, Ran-chan. What's the matter?" Her friend said, hugging her back.

"Can't speak here. Where can we go that we won't be disturbed?"

"What about Shinichi's house? He's never there anymore."

"Um… I guess so."

"DAD? KAZUHA-CHAN AND I ARE GOING FOR A WALK. BE BACK LATER!" Ran shouted, poking her head back into the house. "Let's go." She said, turning back to her friend and shutting the door behind them, ignoring her father's protests.

The walk to Shinichi's house didn't take long for them. Indeed, to Ran, it seemed like only a couple of seconds had passed until she was standing in front of her boyfriend's house. It was hard to look at the house anymore without feeling lost and confused. If what Conan said was true, her Shinichi wouldn't be coming back ever. Just think this thought brought tears to her blue eyes.

"Ran? What's wrong?" Kazuha asked, concerned.

"Nothing. Not here. Let's go inside." She told her friend. Ran walked up the stairs and down the porch, looking for the spot where Shinichi always hid his key. When she had found the key, she walked up to the door, and unlocked it. Motioning Kazuha to follow, Ran entered the large living room. She immediately sat down on one of the 3 couches. Kazuha sat down next to her.

"Alright Ran-chan, what is it?"

Tears welled up in Ran's eyes "It's about … Shinichi."

"What is the baka up to now? You didn't sound to happy over the phone."

"It's just … It's just…" Ran tried saying, tears starting to run down her face. "It's just that he won't ever come back!" Ran then flung herself over her friend, crying her heart out.

"I don't … know … what to … do." She said through sobs.

"Why do you think that he won't ever come back?" Kazuha asked, trying to comfort her friend.

"H…He told me!" Ran said, bawling harder.

Kazuha just put her hand on Ran's back, letting her friend cry. Once Ran had calmed down a little, she went back to her questions. "Why did he tell you that? Does he not like you anymore?"

"No, I know he still does."

"Than why did he tell you he can't come back? What happened? I need to know everything if I am to help you."

"Kazuha-chan, Shinichi isn't himself anymore."

"Is that why he isn't coming back? He isn't himself anymore and so he doesn't want to hurt you."

"Kazuha-chan, please don't tell anyone else this."

"Tell anyone else what?"

"Conan-kun is Shinichi."

"WHAT!"

"I found that out last night. I wasn't happy either."

"But…But how? People don't just grow younger. And if there was a pill that did it, there wouldn't be any old folks anymore."

"Not a pill, Kazuha-chan, but poison. Shinichi was investigating a case, and got caught. They gave the toxin to kill him, since there were police everywhere. It didn't kill him, instead he returned to his 8 year-old self, but with his 18 year-old mind. They are everywhere, and they think he is dead. If they find out, they will kill him and everyone who knows him. And they will make the murders look like accidents."

"Is that why he can't come back? No one can create an antidote?"

"No, that's not it. In 3 days, he will die. My Shinichi will die, right after I found him!" Ran shouted to the world in general, tears springing up again.

"How does he know that?"

"Haibara-san told him."

"Haibara-san? You mean the little blond haired girl that hangs out with him?'

"Yeah, she also has a similar situation. Only she worked for the ones that hurt Shinichi. She left them, took the poison, and fled to find Shinichi. Ever since, she has been working to find a cure."

"She just found out that the poison was incomplete. It will kill Shinichi, but she gets to return back to herself! WHY!" Ran yelled at her friend, angry with everyone. "Why must it kill Shinichi? I just don't know what to do now Kazuha-chan. I just don't know."

"Have you told Shinichi what you think about him. It won't be easier on him, or you, but it may make the last few days bearable. He might even think right now that you hate him." Kazuha asked her, knowing that Ran needed to let out her anger.

"BUT I DON'T KAZUHA-CHAN! I DON'T!" Cried Ran.

"Does he know that?"

"… No."

"Then tell him next time you see him."

"Okay. Thanks Kazuha-chan."

"You're welcome Ran-chan."

------------

Ran and Kazuha stayed at the house, until late in the day. Ran crying on Kazuha's shoulder; Kazuha just comforting her. Kazuha knew it would be hard when Conan died, but she would be there for her friend. Ran would do the same for her. When they returned to Ran's house, Kogoro was drunk and asleep at his desk, and it looked like Conan wasn't home.

"I need to get going back to the hotel. Heiji doesn't like it if I'm not there when he comes back. Besides, he doesn't need to know about our meeting."

"I agree. Thanks for your support Kazuha."

"Call me if you ever need it again. Bye." Kazuha said as she walked back out the door.

"I will! Bye." Ran told her friend.

After the door shut, Ran walked into the kitchen, and started to make dinner.

------------

When Conan opened the door, he immediately noticed that something was wrong. Kogoro, who was usually in the kitchen complaining about the time it took to make dinner, was no where to be heard or seen.

"Ran-neechan?"

"I'm in here Shinichi. Dad is still drunk and asleep."

Conan walked into the kitchen and saw Ran leaning over the stove, stirring the pot.

"What cha making Ran?" Conan asked, his belly rumbling.

"Rice. I didn't want to cook something difficult tonight." She acted like she wasn't angry or disappointed. That put Conan more on edge. Ran usually acted this way when she wanted to scare him later.

"Um, Ran? You're not angry are you?" Conan asked, scared of her answer.

"Now why would I be? Disappointed yes, but not angry. You finally trusted me." Conan could see her disappointment on her face as well. There was also something else there. An emotion that was hidden, but not enough. Love.

"Ran…"

"I'd better wake dad up. He'd not be too happy about missing dinner."

Conan nodded at her statement, but wondered why she had cut him off.

"I'll do it. You need to finish cooking." Conan said, running off for the stairs to the second floor.

Ran just smiled at the small boy. He knew that he would get 'talked' to later. It was written all over his face. She turned back to the rice, making sure that it didn't burn.

That night, after Kogoro went out to buy more beer, the house was really quiet. The two remaining people sat on opposite couches, staring at one another's faces. Both were lost in their own world.

"Shinichi…" Ran said, breaking the silence between them.

"Yeah Ran?"

"What are we going to do? I can't let you go. Not now. Not after I know who you are."

"I don't know. I truly don't know. I don't want to die. I …" Conan cursed himself for not being able to tell the woman of his dreams that he loved her.

"Shinichi?"

"Ran, I … I love you." Ran's heart jumped miles. To hear that from the man she knew and loved, it was like getting an early Christmas present. " I know that this isn't the best time to tell you, but I had to make sure you knew my feeling before I left you for good."

"Shinichi! Don't talk like that! Haibara-san will find a cure. I know she will. I won't let you go."

"Ran…"  
"No listen. I have waited for you for months, and now that you are returned, I won't let you leave me again. Especially not for good. I care about you too, baka. I love you." Conan could have sworn that his head was up in the clouds. He had been afraid that Ran would reject his love. Now he knew that not only did she not send him away, she loved him in return. "Shinichi? Shinichi? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Conan replied when his brain came back down to earth.

He got off the couch he was sitting on and walked over to her. Hopping up next to Ran, Conan hugged her will all the strength that his small form could muster. He was grateful when she did the same.

"Nothing is wrong right now."

------------

Ai pulled the chemicals out of the storage area. She had spent the last 5 hours on the computer testing a new theory, and according to the computer, it should buy Conan a little more time at least. At most, it could cure him completely. Unfortunately, she also found out that she had made a mistake in her first prediction. She had missed one variable, and now Conan's life shortened by another 2 days. That meant that tomorrow would be his last day. Sometime tomorrow, Conan would die, leaving a heart broken Ran.

Ai's heart ached for Ran, because she knew that there was nothing that Ran could do. Ran did not like being helpless. All of Conan's chances on living resided on Ai finishing this pill. If she could finish it before Conan's time was out, then there might be a chance that he could survive. Ai dug into her work. She hadn't slept in over 40 hours. It had been 8 hours since she last ate. Even though her body was worn out, she wouldn't let it quit on her. Conan needed the cure. Even though he would never return her feelings, having Conan dead would hurt her worse. She would do anything to preserve the life of the only one she had dared to love. The only one who didn't love her back.

**  
**


	2. Loss

Afterlife

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They belong to some one else. I just am borrowing them again. (Hope they don't return this time!)

Chapter 2 – Loss

It was 2 am. Time for everyone to be in bed, dreaming of the fun times they'd had. That is, if you aren't Haibara Ai. Ai was currently working on the cure for Conan. She had been falling asleep for the past few hours, only to wake up with a jerk when her mind told her to get going. She had never pushed her regular self this hard. To make it worse, she was currently stuck in the body of an 8 year-old that tired out a lot faster than her 18 year-old self did. Still, she pressed on.

Ai knew that she was close to coming up with the cure. She could see it as she worked day and night. She hadn't stopped in over 40 hours, and she was tired. She couldn't let herself make a mistake, so she triple checked everything. And not at the same time. _I hope this will work. This is the last chance he has. In 8 hours we'll know if I did it right._ She thought to herself.

She put the chemicals together into the DNA tester, and waited the 5 minutes for the results. She played FreeCell on the computer to stop herself from falling asleep. When the DNA tester beeped, she ran over and picked up the results. "YES!" Ai shouted into the air. The results had proved her hypothesis was possible. She ran over to the chemicals, and started to mix together the right ones. Hopefully, it would be done before the time Conan left the world forever. Hopefully.

Later that morning …

Conan woke up as the light from the sun flooded his room. Feeling a bit warm, Conan threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. As he yawned, he thought about what he'd do that day. As far as he knew, he only had 2 day's left until he would pass out of this world.

"Conan-kun?" The voice came from his Detective Boys' Badge that lay forgotten on his desk. It was Ai.

Conan walked over to the badge and picked it up. "Yeah, Ai-kun. What's up?"

"There is something I need to tell you. I made a mistake."

"Really! Does this mean that I won't die after all!" Conan asked, sounding hopeful.

"No. I'm sorry." Conan could almost hear her silent sobs. "I just found out that I overestimated your time left. Today is your last day. I don't know how much of today you will have."

"WHY! WHY MUST IT BE SHORTEND!" Conan was angry. He was angry at the world, Ai and himself.

"Conan-kun, I'm sorry." Conan heard her crying, trying to cover the tears. "I'm so sorry. I haven't been able to create the cure yet."

Conan's heart broke. He just couldn't be angry with her. Not when she was trying so hard to find a way to save him. "Thanks Ai-kun. Let me know if you have any more updates."

"Alright. Take care of yourself. I don't need Mouri-san cursing your afterlife." Conan laughed at her statement, and was amazed when he heard Ai doing the same.

"Take care. Have you slept at all since I talked with you two days ago? Because you don't sound like you have."

"I'm not going to sleep until I've cured you. If I go to sleep now, I won't wake for a couple of days."

"Alright. But don't push yourself to hard. It won't do for you to collapse from exhaustion after you've saved me."

"I'll be careful. Bye, Conan-kun."

"Bye, Ai-kun."

Conan put down the badge, and walked out the door, already trying to think of something to do for his last day. He wanted to spend the rest of the day with Ran as himself, but he knew that it wasn't possible. He turned the corner and walked down the hallway. As he headed down the stairs, he could smell Ran's cooking. Following his nose, Conan found himself in the kitchen, watching Ran put down the last part of breakfast.

"Ohayo Ran-neechan."

"Ohayo Conan-kun. You hungry?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, dig in."

Conan was only too happy to comply, not wanting to break the information to Ran just yet. He knew that he would have to do it soon, but not right now. And he knew that he would dread that time too. Alas, as all things go, the time went by quickly and Conan found himself helping Ran with the rest of the dishes. Kogoro was back upstairs watching his tv, waiting for a case to call. Soon, Conan knew, Kogoro would be drunk and asleep at his desk.

Conan readied himself for the onslaught by taking his glasses off. "Ran? There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it Shinichi?" Ran asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"You'd better sit down." He replied. "I don't need you to fall over when I tell you."

Ran sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, concern clearly written all over her face. "Shinichi? What is it? What's wrong?"

"Ran, I talked again with Ai-kun just before coming downstairs, and she told me that I don't have 2 days left." He said quietly, looking very hurt. "I'm going to die today."

Many emotions flashed across Ran's face, pain being the most visible. "Why Shinichi? Why?"

"When Ai-kun ran the test's two days ago, she missed one variable and now my life has been shortened again."

"No, it can't be true. Shinichi, it just can't be true. Why must you go today?" Ran asked Conan, tears slipping down her face. "Why does this all happen to you?"

"I don't know, Ran. I don't want to leave either. I don't know how much time I have left, so what do you want to do for the remainder of the time?"

"I don't care. I just want to be with you. I don't want you to ever leave me again."

"I'm sorry that I can't give you that request. But, I promise to be with you until I do leave."

------------

The two lovers talked, and decided that al they wanted to do was go for a walk at a local park. Conan was happy to oblige, because he wanted out of the house. While he waited for Ran to come back downstairs, after getting her purse, Conan looked out the window, watching some of the young children from their neighborhood play with each other. They acted as if nothing bad could ever happen. _Where did those years go?_ Conan asked himself. _I wish that Ran and I could go back to that time where we didn't care about the things of the adult world. _It was hard for him to think about leaving Ran, but he knew that he would need to think about it, for when the time got closer, he wouldn't be able to stop think about it then.

"Whatcha watching Shinichi?" Ran asked, as she rounded the corner after coming down the stairs.

Conan smiled as he turned around to look at him. "Just reminiscing about our early childhood."

Ran smiled. "You ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Conan opened the door, the joyful shouts of the children coming through the stairs down to the street. As Ran walked through the door, Conan felt tears forming as he listened to the kids below. He shook his head, trying to clear away his sadness. When he looked up, he noticed that Ran also had tears in her eyes. _Stupid, stupid boy! Why do you always do something to make her cry? Why can't you ever seem to make her completely happy?_ Conan thought miserably to himself.

"Ran? You okay?" Conan asked, not for sure that he wanted an answer.

"Yeah, just thinking about times past. Sorry Shinichi." Ran told her friend as she wiped away the tears.

Conan slipped his hand into hers. As usual, her hand swamped his, but now it didn't feel as bad. It wasn't the usual 'older sister holding younger brother's hand' but two friends/lovers holding hands.

They made their way down the stairs and out into the street. As they walked, they noticed the life all around them. There were birds singing, children playing, and adult talking with one another. _You never realize what's out there until you have it taken away from you._ Conan thought to himself. When they reached the park, they went to sit down in the shade under one of the larger trees. The tree was off in it's own little corner it seemed, and neither of the two occupants were going to complain. They just wanted to be left alone by the world. To them, they were in their own little world, one where Shinichi wasn't going to die that day.

As they talked about this, both knew that this would be the end. Soon, Conan would leave Ran and there was nothing either could do about it. They didn't want to believe Ai, but there was something in the way that she talked that said that she was being totally serious.

After a while, both just stopped talking. It wasn't that neither of them wanted to talk; in fact, they didn't want to _stop_ talking, for it made the hurt seem farther away. But they just couldn't keep their mouths going, for they both were getting depressed. Shinichi not wanting to leave Ran alone, and Ran not for sure if she wanted to live after Shinichi left.

"Ran?" Conan said, breaking the silence between them. "I need you to promise me something."

"What Shinichi?"

"I don't want you to end your life after I'm gone. I'm sure it'll be hard, but I want you to live. Even if you think that you can't."

"Why Shinichi?"

"Because I can't go to the grave, knowing that I was the cause of your death. Promise me Ran. Promise me."

"I don't know, Shinichi. I don't know if I can live when you're gone. I had a hard time living when I thought that you were just on another case and I didn't see you for months. I think the only way that I survived was that I knew you would come back sometime. Now, you won't come back to me."

"I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn't want to deceive you anymore. Not when for some unexpected reason that 'Conan' would die and Shinichi would never come back, or even call anymore. If I could have spared you the pain, I would have. I love you too much."

"I thank you for telling me Shinichi, even though the truth hurts. I would rather know than lose both of you not knowing at all. I promise that I won't kill myself, but I can't promise that I won't die from a broken heart."

"Thanks. You mean the world to me." Conan told Ran, as he hugged her from where he sat on her lap.

"You mean the world to me too." She told him back, running her hands through her hair.

They just sat there, pondering how they felt with the other so close and yet so far away. After a few minutes, they were brought back out of their world by a shout from someone close by.

"Mouri-san, Conan!" A tall, dark skinned boy shouted at them with an Osakan accent. For once he showed a sense of discretion.

Both of their head snapped around as they looked at one Hattori Heiji coming towards them, being followed by his girlfriend Toyama Kazuha; not that either would admit to it.

"Hattori-kun! What are you doing here?" Ran asked the Osaka detective.

"I'm here to see how you too were doing. I checked back at the agency, but both of you had left. Did you know your father doesn't like it when someone wakes him up from a nap by constantly ringing a doorbell?" Heiji asked her, with a smirk on his face.

"Aho, you didn't need to do it for 20 minutes straight though." Kazuha said to her friend.

"How was I to know that he was asleep?" Heiji shot back.

The two Osaka teens proceeded to argue with one another, providing a sort of comical relief for Shinichi and Ran. They both were grateful for the break, for they needed some distraction.

"Hey, what are we doing just standing here? Why don't we go see a movie since we're all here?" Heiji asked, breaking up the argument that he and Kazuha were having.

"Which one would we see, though?" Kazuha asked, looking at Ran

"I don't care." Ran answered.

"How about we go see _Spiderman 2_?" Conan piped up. "I've wanted to go see it since it came out, but Ran wouldn't let me."

"Hey, I thought that you were just a little kid!" Ran threw back, grinning. "I can't help it if you don't tell me what's going on." Everyone broke into laughter at the sight of a disgruntled Conan. They walked to the movie theater, the girls in front and the boys behind. As usual, the girls were chatting merrily, while the boys walked in silence. Shinichi was grateful for Heiji's silence, for he needed a while to pull himself together. Even though he hadn't shown it, he was still a little shaken up after talking with Ai.

------------

Ai could hardly hold back her excitement. The cure that she had spent so much time working on was now almost finished. She sat on her chair, her legs swinging in mid air, as she waited for the chemical reaction to finish. She was still surprised with herself in that she didn't feel tired. Ever since she had put down her Detective Boys' badge, she'd had a mad rush of adrenaline. She hoped that it would last until she could give the pill to Conan.

The test tube stopped bubbling, signaling the end of the reaction. Ai ran over to the chemical set and drained the left over liquid. What remained was the cure. Ai wasn't for sure what the cure would do exactly. There was a ten-percent chance that it would just kill Conan, but an eighty-percent chance that it would not only save Conan's life, but also return him to Shinichi permanently. She didn't know what the third possibility was, and it bugged her. Still, she pressed on to finalize the cure. That was more important. _What's the most important, _Ai thought as she put the powder in a capsule, _is that Conan takes this as soon as possible. It's his last chance._ She found out that there was enough of the powder to make two capsules, which was good. That way, if one were to be damaged she would have another one to give to Conan. Once she had filled both the capsules, she put them into her pocket and sprinted out of the room.

"Agasa-hagasai! I've finished and I'm leaving! I've got to find Kudo-kun!" Ai shouted to the professor, as she headed out the door. The professor shouted something back, but she was in too much of a hurry to hear what it was. All she cared about was to give a certain detective a pill.

------------

After waiting in the long lines to purchase the ticket and snacks, the two couples made their way to their seats. As it turned out, they ended up sitting with the two girls in the middle and their boyfriends on the other side of them. The girls chatted with each other while the boys sat in silence until the movie started. A couple of times during the film, the girls would squeak in surprise or fear and grab their boys' hand. Conan and Heiji didn't mind this at all. In fact, they actually enjoyed holding hands with Ran and Kazuha, not that either of them would actually admit it to anyone else. Once the movie was finished, all 4 chatted merrily about the movie as they left the theater. Heiji noticed that both Ran and Conan were looking much more animated since they had seen the movie.

"Why don't we go get some ice cream?" Kazuha asked as they walked down the road. Everyone agreed whole-heartedly. Kazuha noticed that although Ran acted fine, she could see sorrow hidden in her friend's eyes. Her heart ached for Ran, but there was nothing either of them could do.

Once they had bought their ice cream, they sat down in a shady area of a park. Even though it was barely 2 p.m., there was a since of darkness surrounding the area they were at. All of the teenagers had a feeling that they couldn't just quite make out exactly what it was, but they knew something bad was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon.

------------

Ai ran out of the Agency, hearing Mouri Kogoro's shouts following her. She had already checked the Kudo residence, and all of their little friends' houses. She had no idea where to look for Conan, but she didn't stop trying. She headed in the direction of Sonoko's home, hoping against all odds that Ran had dragged Conan along with her. She had no idea where to look if that wasn't so.

------------

Conan finished his ice cream cone, and laid back on the grass, his hands behind his head. Next to him, Heiji was doing the same thing. Both girls noticed how cute they were, and giggled between themselves when Kazuha mentioned it. Soon, Kazuha was curled up next to Heiji, and Ran laid down next to Conan. Everyone had a content smile on their faces, though Conan wished that he were back in his larger body. He let his mind wander around, not caring what he thought about. He had Ran by his side, and that was enough for now. _It's so peaceful. I wish that we could stay here for days._ Conan thought to himself. _But fate isn't kind to me right now. What ever I did to deserve this, I wish that I hadn't. If not for me, then for Ran. _He smiled at the thought of Ran. And then grimaced as a pain shot through his spine. _Oh no, not NOW!_ Conan shouted in his mind, though the pain. _Please God, not NOW!_

Ran noticed Conan tensing, and one look at him as all it took. "SHINICHI! Oh no, not now! Please not now! Don't leave me!" She shouted as Conan gasped, hugging him closely. He was sweating a lot, and it had soaked his clothes.

Ran's shout had brought Kazuha and Heiji out of their bliss. They looked at her and then at Conan and both knew instantly what was going on. And there was almost nothing that they could do. Somehow, one of the teenagers managed to call an ambulance though the mass chaos that was quickly erupting around the 4 of them. Watching Ran and Conan was too much for her and Kazuha buried herself in Heiji's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. It was hard to watch her friend go through this, and knowing Conan mad unbearable. Ran just held Conan close as he continued to sweat, her tears not helping at all. That was how the paramedics found them.

------------

Ai ran through the park, taking a shortcut that she knew to Sonoko's home. She was still hoping that Conan was there, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed unlikely. Conan was more likely to have told Ran what was happening, and then would spend the day with her. _They could be ANYWHERE! _Ai shouted to herself. She happened to catch a glance of flashing blue and red lights off to one side, and she immediately turned her head in that direction. She stopped when she saw three teenagers and a child sitting under a tree. _That has to be them!_ She thought furiously as she shot off in that direction.

As she neared, she noticed that it was indeed Ran and Conan, but she wasn't for sure about the other two. She thought the dark skinned boy was Hattori Heiji, but she didn't know the girl at all. Ai pulled one of the capsules out of her pocket, and headed over to Ran and Conan. As luck would have it, the paramedics arrived just before her, and put Conan on one of the portable beds. One of the paramedics helped Ran up while the other pushed the bed with all speed towards the back of the ambulance. No, she was too late! Still, she ran to catch up as Ran followed the paramedics.

"Mouri-san!" Ai yelled towards the retreating form of Ran. "Wait for me!"

Ran's head snapped around. "Haibara-san?" She asked, a little confused. Ai noticed the trail the tears had left. "What're you doing here?"

"I'll explain later. I need to come." She told her, closing the distance between them. A paramedic moved to intercept her, but Ran shook her head at him.

"Let her come," was all she said to the man. He nodded and then proceeded to go to the front.

The other paramedic and loaded Conan, and turned to help Ran and Ai into the back. Heiji and Kazuha just watched from where they were, Kazuha still crying into his shirt, and Heiji putting a comforting arm around her. Ai stared at their shrinking forms as the ambulance moved away from the curb and shot down the street.

Beep … Beep

The heart monitor sound let everyone know Conan was still alive. Ran stared at the small form of Conan. There were wires everywhere. Some measured his heartbeat, others his breathing. Conan, himself, was still drenched in sweat and looked barely conscious. She hated to seem like this, but this was better than him dying on her. She looked so intently on Conan's face, that she almost didn't notice when Ai took off Conan's watch. She watched in surprise as Ai opened the lid, pointed the watch at the paramedic and pressed a button on the watch. She heard a small **ping** and watched the paramedic slide down the wall, clearly asleep.

"Why did you do that?" Ran asked the small girl.

"Because of this." Came the reply, as Ai held up a small white pill. "If he was awake, he wouldn't let Conan-kun take this."

"Haibara-san? Is that… is that the cure?"

"Yes and no. I pretty sure it is, but there is a slight chance that it will not work and still kill him. If he doesn't take, he will die. That much I am certain about."

Ran nodded, as she turned back to Conan. "Conan? Can you hear us?"

"Uh… What's up Ran? Are we in Hawaii yet? And why do you look so grownup?"

"What?"

"Mouri-san, I think that Kudo-kun is hallucinating and returning to a younger time in his mind. He needs to take the cure now, even if we have to force it down his throat."

Ran shook her head. "No, let me try. Shinichi?" she asked the small boy. "I need you take a medicine. Can you do that?"

"Don't wanna!" He replied, sounding much like is physical age.

"You need to. It'll make you feel better."

"No!"

"Please. For me?"

"Um…" Conan thought about it for a few moments. "Sure!" Ran visibly relaxed.

"Here," Ai told the young boy, handing him the pill. "Make sure you swallow it completely."

"Um, ok. But who are you?"

Beep … Beep

"Just a friend Kudo-kun. Just a friend."

"Who's Kudo-kun?" Conan asked very confused. "Is that your friend Ran?"

Ran and Ai both look very scared. _If he doesn't know is name, than he maybe to far gone._ Ai thought to herself. "What is your name?" She asks Conan.

"I'm Edogawa Shinichi! I'm a detective!" He responded, very proud. "But Kudo sounds very familiar. Like I should remember it from somewhere."

_Oh, no! _Ran thought, very frantic. _He doesn't remember his correct name. He's mixing up his fake and real name. How is that possible?_

"Edogawa-kun, please take the pill." Ai told him, giving him a glass of water she had found in the ambulance. Conan complied, drinking all of the water.

"So what now? Ran, can we go home?"

"No, Edogawa-kun. You need to stay here for a while," Ai told him.

"Why? I feel fine. I don't …" Conan began when he let out a loud shout. "AHHH! Ran it hurts! Ran! Help me!"

Beep … Beep

"Haibara-san! What's happening to Shinichi!" Ran asked, very worried. "What's the pill doing to him!"

"Saving his life." Came the cold reply, but when Ran looked at Ai she could see tears silently falling down the side of her face. "And hopefully more."

When Conan shouted out again and started to thrash around, Ran went over and held him down, drenching him with her tears. It seemed like forever until he quieted down. She pulled up and saw that he was still sweating, but he had a tired and content look.

"Ran."

"Shinichi?"

"Sorry Ran. I'm sorry I can't be there for you." He told her with a straight face.

Beep … Beep

"No, Shinichi. You will get better. Haibara-san gave you the cure." She told him, trying not to let fear show on her face or creep into her voice. She failed miserably.

"Ai-kun? You finished it?" He asked, wincing in pain.

"Yes." She said, not looking at him. "But I don't know if it'll work."

"Thanks Ai-kun. Thanks. Look after Ran for me please."

"NO! Shinichi stop acting like you're going to die. STOP!" Ran angrily told the detective. "You'll get better!"

Conan took a deep breath, shutting his eyes. "I don't think I beat the odds this time. I'm sorry Ran! Good-bye … Ran ..."

Beep … Beep … Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Conan's heart stopped and Ran went ballistic.

"NO! SHINICHI! DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME!" She cried, breaking into sobs. "DON'T … LEA…ve me…" Her voice trailed off, but she was still crying.

Ai couldn't take it anymore. She went to hug Ran, crying just as hard.

"Shinichi, you baka! You weren't supposed to leave me!" Ran continued to shout.

By the time they reached the hospital, the paramedic had awoken from his 'nap', but there was nothing that anyone could do. Kudo Shinichi and Edogawa Conan were dead. With him, he took the soul of Mouri Ran.


	3. Acceptance

Afterlife

Disclaimer: Lets see, I have it here somewhere. _Searches pockets. _Here we go: "NAKAMORI AOKO, WILL YOU BE MY VALINTINE?" … Wait … that's not it. That's another story. _Throws away the paper. _Oh here it is. "All characters belong to Gosho Aoyama. I own only the plot." Darn. I want to own Detective Conan instead! Oh well.

Chapter 3 - Acceptance

Heiji and Kazuha just watched from where they were, Kazuha still crying into his shirt, and Heiji putting a comforting arm around her. Ai stared at their shrinking forms as the ambulance moved away from the curb and shot down the street.

Heiji and Kazuha watched as the ambulance pulled away from the curb. Since there was nothing they could do, Heiji just guided the tearful Kazuha over to a bench and sat them down. As he held her close, he could 'feel' a rising dread, almost as if he knew what was happening right then in the ambulance. From the times working with Shinichi, he had developed what some would call a six sense. It would tell him when Shinichi was in trouble. That was how they usually stayed alive. One would get the feeling of dread and go off to find what stupid thing that the other did. He couldn't help but think about Conan and wonder if he would survive.

Heiji looked down at Kazuha and noticed that she had stopped crying. "Hey, you want to go back to the hotel now?" He asked with concern.

She looked back at him. "Yeah, let's go." She got off of the bench and pulled Heiji along, heading down the street. She didn't want to think about what was happening to Ran right now, but that was all her brain would let her think about.

Conan's heart stopped and Ran went ballistic.

"NO! SHINICHI! DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME!" She cried, breaking into sobs. "DON'T … LEA…ve me…" Her voice trailed off, but she was still crying.

Heiji doubled over in pain. Kazuha, noticing the sudden resistance to her pulling, looked back at her friend. He was leaning over, clutching his sides like he had been hit really hard in the stomach. On his face was not pain, but fear. Kazuha didn't know why fear would be there, but she did know it wasn't good.

"What's wrong Heiji?" She asked him.

"Kudo's in trouble." He stood up straight and looked at her. "I'm afraid for both him and Mouri-san."

"Why do you say that?" She looked at him, her tiredness showing through. "We both know how much trouble he is in. Come on, we both were there."

"It's not like that. It's worse. I can't explain it. I just know he's in trouble."

"Let's go home. There's nothing we can do here."

Heiji agreed and let Kazuha drag him towards their hotel. When they arrived, they both just sat down on a couch and held each other, neither wanting to let go of the other.

**Bring … Bring … Bring**

The phone's ring interrupted their silence and Kazuha went to answer it. "Moshi Moshi"

"Kazuha-chan, he's gone." the voice said over the phone. It was Ran. "Tell Heiji for me please."

"Okay, do you want us to come over?" Kazuha asked, concerned for her friend. "We could come right now."

"No, not right now. I just need some time alone." Kazuha understood why Ran wanted to be left alone, and so she respected her decision. "Alright, let me know anytime you want us to come over. Don't let yourself hurt alone."

"I'll do." Kazuha could tell that her voice was straining not to crack with the pain she was feeling.

"Talk with you later, bye."

"Bye Kazuha-chan. Thanks."

Kazuha hung up the phone. "Who was that?" Heiji asked.

"Ran-chan. He's gone." Heiji knew at that moment that the pain he had felt earlier was when Shinichi had died.

"How's Ran doing?" He asked her, trying not to let the surprise into his voice.

"She says that she's okay, but I don't think so. She sounded like she was still in a state of shock.

"I think we should give tonight to be alone, but over the next while, we should stick by her side." The Osaka detective told her. "I think this will be harder on her in the morning, when it all comes crashing down."

"I agree. We need to be there for her." Kazuha walked over and took Heiji's hand, dragging him back to the couch. There, she once again buried herself in his arms. He just sat there, holding her close.

That night …

Ran starred out the window of her bedroom. She couldn't sleep, for fear that her dreams would be plagued with nightmares. She didn't want to face the night or day without her special someone. _Any moment Conan-kun will be walking in here, trying to comfort me._ She thought to herself. She promptly cursed herself, for thinking about Conan made the hurt grow. She felt the tears start to fall down her face, and she didn't care how saw her.

"Ran? You okay?" It was her mother, Eri. When she had heard about Conan's death, she and Kogoro both agreed that she should move back in to help Ran get over it. Her parents didn't know Conan was Shinichi.

"Yeah, just … just thinking about him." Ran told her mom, wiping the tears that had left tracks down her face. "It's hard to believe that he isn't here anymore."

"Shh, just let it all out." Eri said to her daughter, moving over to hold her as they both sat on the bed. Ran took this opportunity to bury herself in her mother's arms, crying hard. Eri held her close, rocking her and whispering words of comfort to her. Ran poured out her soul in the tears, and when she couldn't cry anymore, she fell asleep, still in her mother's arms.

She was running. From what, she had no idea and it freaked her out. All she knew was that she couldn't stop running. Eventually she tired out and plopped down in front of a light post. Her legs refused to hold her up anymore, so she just sat there trying to regain her breath. She looked over her shoulder and saw to her horror that it was still coming. She saw the black loafers as they entered the light. Blue pants and a blue suit coat followed the shoes. She looked up at the face and saw the dark brown hair with a piece sticking up in back. It was Shinichi in his school uniform.

"Ran. Why did you run from me? Why?" He asked her as she started to sob.

"Shinichi! You're dead! I saw you die!" She exclaimed, crying harder. "I want you back!"

"Ran, I'm not gone. I never left."

"GO AWAY! YOU'RE A GHOST OF MY FRIEND. LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Ran…"

"GO AWAY! YOU'RE NEVER COMING BACK!"

"Fine." He said, and turned around to leave. "I thought that you cared for me."

She sat there in the spotlight and cried. "Shinichi … why did you have to go?"

"Shinichi!"

"Shinichi!" She shouted, sitting straight up. For a moment she didn't recognize where she was. Ran then noticed that she had fallen asleep while in her mother's arms and her mom must have laid her down on her bed, for Eri was no where to be seen.

"Shinichi … why did you have to go?" She asked the world, not caring if it answered back.

She laid back down and hugged her pillow, trying to shut out the world of hurt that was around her.

------------

When Ran woke up again the next morning, she could smell food from downstairs. Pictures of her mother cooking was enough to make Ran get up and dressed, and then rush downstairs to try to save what she could of breakfast. When she arrived, though, she was meet with something she didn't expect. Sitting at the table was Heiji and Kazuha, with Chinese take-out.

"Thought you might like something to eat." Heiji told her. "So we picked something up."

"Thanks Hattori-kun, Kazuha-chan." She said, bowing to the two Osaka teens.

Kazuha stood up and walked over to hug her. "You feeling any better? Your mom said that you were having a hard time last night." There was concern in her voice, and Ran thanked the heavens for such a good friend.

"Yeah, now I do."

"Food has a funny way of doing that to people." Heiji interjected, trying to lighten the mood. He didn't like the sense of darkness around his friend's girl. They all laughed at his joke, even Ran, and it made the hurt seem farther away.

The teenagers sat down and ate breakfast together, listening to Heiji try to crack jokes and eventually making all of them laugh until their sides hurt. Once they were done, Kazuha helped Ran do the dishes while Heiji threw away their garbage. When they were done with the chores, Kazuha all but dragged Ran out of the house to have some fun together. Heiji said that he wanted to go talk with Dr. Agasa, and so left the girls together.

When Heiji arrived back at the Doc's house, he didn't hear any explosions. _Okay, that's definitely weird. _Heiji thought as he rang the doorbell. A few moments later, an old, round man in his 50's opened the door.

"Ah, Hattori-kun, what can I do for you?"

"Agasa-hagasi, have you heard about Conan?"

"Haibara-san arrived home last night and told me. I think she's very depressed right now."

"Yeah, but not as much as Mouri-san. I think it's going to be the hardest on her."

"Why don't you come in, there is someone I think you should meet." Heiji followed the doctor in, and was surprised when he meet what looked like an older Shinichi sitting on the couch with a woman to his side. "Hattori-kun, meet Kudo Yusaku and Kudo Yukiko. They're Shinichi's parents."

Heiji bowed to them. "Hello. I'm sorry about your son. He was a great man." He wasn't surprised when a sob escaped out of Yukiko's throat as she hugged her husband.

"Agasa as told us about you." Yusaku told him. "He says that you're the detective of the west while Shinichi was the detective of the east. I hope that you two got along."

"Got along as much as we could. It helps when we fight the same enemy."

"Ah yes, you must mean the Black Organization. I've personally had some run-ins with them." Yusaku informed Heiji. "For you information, Yukiko and I aren't going to be here very long. Most people don't know that Shinichi was Conan."

"What about Edogawa Fumiyo?"

"My wife isn't in the mood to act, so she won't be able to make the funeral."

"I see. I could let everyone know if you want."

"Agasa has done that for us already. Thank you anyways."

"Is there any…" Heiji started, but was stopped by a twinge. That was the usual sign that Shinichi was in trouble, but he was dead, wasn't he? _Ok, this is getting weird._ Heiji thought to himself.

"Is there any what?" Yusaku asked, bringing Heiji out of his thought and back to the conversation.

"Is there anything that I could do for you?" Heiji finished what he had been going to say.

"You feeling okay?" Yukiko asks, speaking up for the first time. "You don't look it."

"Yeah, just remembering something." Heiji shook his head to clear it of his ridiculous ideas about Shinichi being alive. "Is there anything I can do for you, though?"

"No, but thank you again. You should just help Ran not drown in her sorrow. She'll need you soon."

"I'll help her as much as I can. That, I promise."

They continued to discuss other ideas, but Heiji's mind wasn't on it. Eventually he had to leave. After saying good-bye to the Kudos and Agasa, he left for the Agency. He hoped that Kazuha and Ran had finished with what they were doing and were back there. Heiji spent the entire walk back running over ideas to explain the twinge he had felt earlier. He had expected the connection to break when Shinichi had died, but know he wasn't for sure. Heiji wasn't the superstitious, but he didn't need a dead detective following him around and Heiji knowing when it was in trouble. _Usually this kind of thing is what Kazuha thinks up. She's the superstitious type, not me._

When he finally made it back to the Agency, it was already getting dark. Ran and Kazuha weren't back and Heiji was getting worried. He sat down on a couch to wait as long as he could. After an hour of waiting, he couldn't stand it anymore, and so he got up to leave. The girls chose that exact moment to arrive home, and nearly run over Heiji as the rush inside to get out of the rain that had started while Heiji was inside waiting.

While he waited for the girls to dry off, Heiji looked around for some food. As he was looking, he found a note.

Ran, Eri and I are going to be going up north for a while. She needs to get something and asked me to come along. Don't worry about us. Kogoro.

When the girls came down, Heiji gave it to Ran and then looked at Kazuha for ideas. She just returned a blank stare. Once Ran was finished reading the note, she handed it to Kazuha who read it and then she understood what Heiji had meant when he had looked at her.

"Ran-chan," Kazuha said, breaking the silence between them, "you could always come back to the hotel and stay with us, that way you don't have to be alone."

"Thanks, but no. I don't want to leave here."

"Ran…" Kazuha began, but Heiji cut her off.

"Alright 'Neechan. We'll see you tomorrow morning."

Ran nodded, and so Kazuha and Heiji left. She didn't really want to be alone, but she also didn't want to leave the agency. She sat down on the couch and turned on the tv. After watching a drama that made her even more depressed, she shut it off. She wasn't hungry, so she decided to just go to bed. It took her little time to fall asleep, for she was tired from running around with Kazuha. As sleep claimed her, she thought about Shinichi in her dream last night.

Once again she found herself in the dream. Only this time, she wasn't running. Instead, she was chasing something. She thought it might be Shinichi, but she wasn't for sure. After waking up to a world without him, she didn't want to lose him in her dreams. She ran harder, trying to catch up with the soccer player. As she neared him, she saw him start to fade out.

"NO! SHINICHI!" She shouted, trying to gain his attention. "DON'T GO! PLEASE DON'T GO!"

Shinichi turned around, looking very hurt. "You sent me away. Why?" He continued to fade out. "Why did you send me away Ran? I thought that we were friends."

Shinichi's words ripped through Ran's soul, causing her to stumble and fall down. "Don't go Shinichi. I can't lose you again." She said, breaking out into tears. Shinichi just continued to fade out.

"I loved you Ran, and you just sent me away." He stopped running and looked back at her, pain in his eyes. "Why Ran?"

"I … I didn't want to have a … a ghost visit me and make it harder. Now, I … I don't care. I CAN'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!" She yelled at the detective.

Shinichi smiled at her. "You never lost me Ran. You just think you did." He faded completely out and left a bewildered Ran. What did he mean by she never lost him? She just sat there, confused and hurting.

When she woke the next morning, Ran could still remember the pain in Shinichi's face from the dream. To her, the dream seemed too real. It hurt her to see him so hurt, especially when she was the one causing the hurt. Now that he wasn't here to forgive, it made it even worse. Ran felt like she just wanted to die to make the hurting stop. She was tempted to end her life, but she remembered her promise to Shinichi.

"I can't go to the grave, knowing that I was the cause of your death. Promise me Ran. Promise me. … If I could have spared you the pain, I would have. I love you too much."

"I thank you for telling me Shinichi, even though the truth hurts. I would rather know than lose both of you not knowing at all. I promise that I won't kill myself, but I can't promise that I won't die from a broken heart."

Dying from a broken heart was just what she was doing. It hurt and there was nothing that she could do about it. As she sat on her bed, crying, she noticed something was on her windowsill. She got up to look at them and realized that they were flowers. Chrysanthemums to be exact. The kind of flower that only Shinichi would give her. At the thought of Shinichi, her heart broke. Shinichi was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it.

As her thoughts came back to the flowers, she couldn't help but smile. They were just so beautiful and they reminded her of the man she loved. If only he could come back to her. She would never leave his side again if he did.

She took the flowers downstairs and put them in a vase with flowers. When Kazuha and Heiji arrived, she had to show them the flowers. Heiji looked like someone just walked over his grave, but Kazuha was scared silly.

"Ran-chan, do you know what this means?" She asked the young woman. "This means that Shinichi is stalking you from the afterlife."

"Be serious Kazuha-chan. Ghosts aren't real, and Shinichi isn't alive." It hurt her to say so, but it was the truth. "It was probably some person who thought that I needed some cheering up and just happened to get the type of flowers that Shinichi always got me."

"No way! The possibility of that happening is very low. I think Shinichi is back to haunt you."

"Well, if he is, he's welcome to. I miss him."

"Look, whether he's staking Ran or not, we can't do anything about it. So let's just drop it." Heiji said, getting annoyed. Unknown to everyone else, though, he thought that Shinichi might be back. That morning again he had felt something through the 'danger' bond he shared with Shinichi, but he wasn't stupid enough to say it out loud. If he did, Kazuha would most likely kill him or faint and it would give Ran false hope. So instead, he kept his mouth shut.

------------

The next couple of days passed without much happening. Every morning, Ran found the chrysanthemums on her window and Heiji and Kazuha would stay with her all day. The only time she felt alone, now, was at night. Not even when her parents arrived back home did that feeling disappear. No one seemed to be able to remove it either. So, every night she would cry herself to sleep and dream about Shinichi telling her that she isn't alone.

Conan's funeral came and went and most of his friends went along in their lives. Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ai were the only one's who seemed to have a hard time to let go of Conan. Ran understood, for he spent the most time with them.

One morning, she woke up and walked over to the windowsill to pick up the flowers that where usually there. Only this time there were none. Feeling like she had lost something again, she headed downstairs wondering why the flowers had stopped coming. They were her lifeline, what allowed her to survive the day. Without them, she was already feeling depressed.

As she turned the corner to enter the kitchen, she stopped and stared. All over the table was the chrysanthemums, and there was a note on top. She walked over and picked up the note, reading out loud what it said. _Don't forget me._ Three simple words made her go crazy.

"SHINICHI'S COMING BACK! SHINICHI'S COMING BACK!" She shouted to the world, not caring who was listening. Her parents rushed down the stairs, awoken by Ran's shouts. What they saw surprised them, to say the least. Ran, who hardly didn't look depressed, was jumping up and down with joy.

When Heiji and Kazuha arrived at their usual time that morning, they were met with an enthusiastic Ran. Kazuha as elated with Ran, but Heiji had is doubts. He hadn't felt anything since the second day after Shinichi had died. He wanted to believe the note, but there was just no proving anything. After Ran calmed down, she 'forced' Heiji and Kazuha to sit down and then told them about her dreams. Kazuha was convinced by the end that Shinichi was haunting Ran, while Heiji thought that something might have happened with Conan that made it possible for him to be alive. He just didn't know what.

M_aybe the cure worked, but it took longer that thought. _Ran thought to herself, after she finished telling about her dreams. _I don't know how it's possible, but if it'll bring Shinichi back, I'll believe anything._

"'Neechan, I know you want to believe that Kudo is coming back; hell, I want to believe it, but we both know it's just not possible. I'm sorry to break your hopes, but Kudo's not coming back." Heiji told her, trying not to sound overbearing. He knew Ran needed happiness, but this wasn't the way.

"Aho, you leave her alone. She can think what she wants." Kazuha angrily told the detective. "If she's happy, then I'll go along." _Boys are just so clueless at times. _She thought to herself.

"But for her to have false hope? Is that good?" Heiji shot back, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

"HEY! I can chose for myself." Ran shouted, to be heard over their argument. "I thank you for being concerned for me, but this is my decision."

"So then what do you decide?" Heiji asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"If Shinichi's alive, he'll come back to me. I'm going to wait for him. Even if he never shows."

_Talk about dedication. _Heiji thought, amazed. _Would Kazuha would be like for me?_

Eventually, the teenagers decided to go out and have some fun. They wanted out of the house, but Ran refused to let them go until they helped her put all the flowers in vases. By the time they were done, there was about 10 vases full of just the chrysanthemums.

"Wow, that's a lot of flowers!" Kazuha announced looking at the vases.

"Yeah." Was all Ran could think of.

They left the house and spent the day doing what ever Ran wanted. Kazuha and Heiji had never seen Ran so happy, and secretly they were very glad and hoped that Shinichi was really coming back. As it neared dark, Heiji was called to the police station for some help with a case. After asking Ran if she wanted company home and being told no, Kazuha followed him.

Ran walked down the path and noticed that she was going down the street that Shinichi used to live on. When she walked by his house, she stopped and looked at it longingly. As she stared at it, she noticed that it looked like someone had been there recently. _Shinichi?_ Ran thought hopefully. She ran to the gate, and opening it, ran up the walkway to the front door. The door was locked, but that didn't stop Ran. She got the spare key, and opened it. Entering, she looked around. At first glance, everything looked like it had when she and Kazuha and last come here. She looked through the whole house, even going upstairs, but nothing seemed like it had someone living in it for days. Depressed, she left the house and continued to walk home. That night, she visited Shinichi again, but this time, she wasn't for sure she wanted to.

Ran sat down on the sofa in Shinichi's living room. It was the first time that she had appeared here, but she wasn't complaining. She had appeared in worse spots, like in the middle of a lake. She waited for Shinichi show up and comfort her like he always did. He never once seemed to be sad for himself. Instead, he looked like he hurt because she hurt. After a long while, she noticed that something was different. This time, Shinichi hadn't come at the beginning. She hoped that he was going to come soon. Just then she heard the front door open, and she looked at it. The person who came in wasn't Shinichi, but Conan.

"Ran-neechan? Whatcha doing in Shinichi-niichan's house?"

"Conan-kun? Where is Shinichi? Have you seen him?" She asked him, forgetting that Conan and Shinichi were the same person.

"Shinichi says he can't come anymore. He's moving on." Conan's words hit her like a sledgehammer.

"Why? Shinichi, you said that you wouldn't leave me alone!" She said, tears starting to form.

"Shinichi says that he's very sorry." Conan moved over to her and sat in her lap, hugging her.

"Why?" Was all she could think about. Why did he go back on his word? Why did he leave her alone? Why? Why? "WHY?"

"He wants you to be happy." Conan told her. "He said that he would keep his promise."

"Promise?"

"That he'd never leave you alone."

"How can he do that? You said he moved on."

"He did. He moved on for you."

"Conan-kun …" Ran was about to ask him why Shinichi moved on when a noise woke her up.

Ran looked around her room. It was still dark and the clock read 2:21 am. _What woke me up?_ She wondered as she continued to look around the room. Then she spotted the source. In the shadows, by her door, someone was standing. The person was wearing a brown loafers, a blue suit, and a red bow tie. Her heart leapt into her throat. It couldn't be, could it?

"Shinichi?"

Shinichi smiled. "Hello Ran. Nice to see you again."

Ran didn't want to blink, for fear he would go away. "How?"

Shinichi just smiled and walked over to her. He bent down low, and hugged her. "I promised not to leave you alone. I'm going to make good on that promise."

Oh, yeah. He was definitely alive.


	4. Memories

Afterlife

Disclaimer: I don't own anything right now. (_Lawsuit is still pending. Hope to beat Gosho Aoyama. Unfortunately it's also an AU!_)

Chapter 4 - Memories

Shinichi just smiled and walked over to her. He bent down low and hugged her. "I promised not to leave you alone. I'm going to make good on that promise."

Oh, yeah. He was definitely alive.

Ran felt her heart race along at 150 mph. _Her_ Shinichi was back. "How's this possible?" she asked, not wanting Shinichi to disappear again.

"I can't tell you right now. Sleep, and I'll tell you in the morning," he told her gently, not wanting to hurt her anymore.

"But…" she pressed, struggling to sit up.

"Sleep. It'll make you feel better." He gently pushed her back down. "I'll still be here in the morning. I'm not going anywhere."

Ran nodded, grabbed Shinichi's hand, yawned, and then fell asleep. Shinichi just stared at the girl. She had waited for him for months, not wavering in the face of constant doubt. When he'd finally told her who he really was, she hadn't gotten angry. She'd stayed by his side through the entire ordeal. _His _Ran was here. He was here and he wasn't going to let that change. He just sat on her bed, letting Ran first hold his hand and then letting her cuddle him when she had a nightmare. He fell asleep himself listening to her heartbeat.

Next morning…

Ran awoke feeling very joyful. She couldn't remember why, but something had happened during her sleep. When she opened her eyes, a blue suit coat greeted her. She sat up and then noticed it was Shinichi. _Shinichi!_ she thought wildly. _He's here! He's alive!_

"Shinichi! You're here!" she shouted as she hugged him without much conscious thought.

"Yeah, who'd you think you've been using as a teddy bear all night?" His voice sounded a bit tired.

That was when she noticed that she had her arms wrapped around him. Blushing, she quickly let go. "Shinichi, how is this possible?"

"I'll tell you in a little while. Are Hattori and Toyama-kun coming today?"

"Yes. They come over every morning."

"Good. We get to have a little fun with them. Wanna help?" he asked her, his voice just dripping with anticipation of what they were doing to do.

"Why not? It'll give us a good laugh once it's over."

Shinichi laughed. "That's my Ran." He sat up and kissed her on the cheek. Ran's face turned crimson from his touch but she didn't care. He'd called her 'my Ran'. Everything else didn't matter.

Shinichi rolled off the bed and turned around to help Ran up. They headed down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Ran started breakfast. She was almost done when the doorbell rang. Looking at Shinichi, who nodded for her to get it, she headed out to answer the door. Opening it, she saw Heiji and Kazuha.

"Ohayô Kazuha-chan, Hattori-kun."

"Ohayô!" they both replied.

"You look happy today. What happened?" Kazuha asked as she hugged her

"Come in. I'll tell you over breakfast."

Heiji motioned for Kazuha to go ahead of him and, when she entered, he followed. He stopped in the living room to look around while Kazuha followed Ran. He was looking at some old pictures of Ran and Conan when Kazuha's scream sent him running for the kitchen. When he entered, Kazuha, who was looking as white as a ghost, buried herself in his arms. Sitting at the table was none other than Kudo Shinichi.

"Why, hello Hattori. Didn't expect you to be here," Shinichi said, a grin threatening to break free.

"H…how the hell are you here?" Heiji stammered as he reflexively tightened his hold on Kazuha, not liking this one bit. Heiji wasn't the superstitious type, but right now he thought he might start to believe in ghosts. After all, Kudo was giving him a heart attack. Well, figuratively at least.

Shinichi smiled and Heiji started to come up with ideas to explain the detective's sudden appearance that didn't involve the supernatural. The one that gained the most weight in his mind was that he was dreaming and should wake up soon. The idea was shattered when a sob escaped Kazuha. _If she's crying, then it's definitely not a dream,_ Heiji told himself grimly.

"Shinichi, can you help me with this pot?" Ran asked from the stove.

Ran's voice brought a new question to Heiji's mind. Why wasn't Ran freaking out? Usually she was the one to go crazy around ghosts. She was even worse than Kazuha.

"Sure," Shinichi said as he got up from the table. "Oh, and Hattori? You'd better sit Toyama-kun down. She looks like she's about ready to faint."

Heiji looked down at her and had to agree with Shinichi. He guided Kazuha over to one of the kitchen chairs and sat her down. He sat down in one next to hers due to the fact that Kazuha refused to let go of him. He just sat there letting her calm herself while he came up with crazy solutions for why Shinichi was alive. When Shinichi and Ran came back, Kazuha looked like she had finally gotten a hold on herself.

"Kazuha-chan, you alright?" Ran asked, genuinely concerned for her friend.

Kazuha nodded and pointed to Shinichi, who was currently holding a pot of rice. "H … how's he here?" she asked, her voice wavering.

"Oh, Shinichi? I really don't know." Heiji actually did a face-plant at her words. After he got up off of the floor, he stared at Ran._ HER_ not knowing why Shinichi was back made it definitely seem weird.

"Okay Kudo, spill the beans. How on earth are you back?" Heiji demanded angrily.

"Umm … I really don't know either." Heiji's face looked like it was about ready to explode. He walked over to Shinichi, cracking his knuckles and growling menacingly. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you why I'm back," Shinichi consented quickly and Heiji visibly relaxed. He didn't need Shinichi not knowing why he was alive. "but after breakfast. After all, it'd be rude to waste such a fine meal." They all agreed, Heiji reluctantly, and they sat down for breakfast.

After they finished, and Shinichi and Ran had done the dishes, they all sat down in the living room.

"Alright. Just to let everyone know, I don't remember everything exactly, so my story will be staggered. I'm going to begin after I had taken Ai's cure and most of the pain was gone…"

"…Ran…" I said, very tiredly.

"Shinichi?" she replied.

"Sorry Ran. I'm sorry I can't be there for you," I told her. The world was getting fuzzy.

"No, Shinichi. You will get better. Haibara-san gave you the cure." She tried not to let fear show on her face or creep into her voice but I'm a detective, so she failed miserably.

"Ai-kun? You finished it?" I asked, wincing in pain.

"Yes," she said, not looking at me. "But I don't know if it'll work."

"Thanks Ai-kun. Thanks. Look after Ran for me please."

"NO! Shinichi stop acting like you're going to die. STOP!" Ran nearly hollered, her anger replacing her fear. "You'll get better!"

I took a deep breath, shutting my eyes. "I don't think I beat the odds this time. I'm sorry. Good-bye …Ran..." The world went fuzzy and faded out. I fell into what seemed like a deep sleep.

Sometime later I awoke. It took a little while for me to realize I was in a box. A coffin to be exact. How I got there, I had no idea. I was still Conan, so I had some room to move around. I could feel the coffin moving and, from the noise outside, I figured that I was in the van being transported to the gravesite. It only took a few minutes and, thanks to a skill I learned from a friend, I was out of the coffin. Looking though the window into the cab, I saw that the driver hadn't noticed that he had a living person in the back. Thinking this was for the best, I stayed out of sight until the car stopped. In the time he took to get out of the driver's seat and over to the back to open it, I moved the window between the back and the cab. It took a few seconds to open and then I slipped though the window, shutting it behind me. While my hands left the window, the driver opened the back of the car. I waited until everyone's attention was away from the car to escape it. I sneaked out the passenger's door and headed for the gates of the cemetery.

Once I was out, I tried to find my bearings. Looking around, I noticed that I was near my old house. Heading in that direction, I noticed that I was feeling hot. Given that that is a sign that I was going to change back into Shinichi in a few minutes, I kicked it into high gear. I arrived at my house and made it inside just in time for me to collapse on the ground. Pain washed over me and I felt like I was going to die. It was worse that it had ever been, even when I had taken the temporary cures.

"Temporary cures?" Ran asked. "What are they?"

Shinichi stopped his narration to give her an explanation. "The temporary cures where a pill that Ai-kun had come up with that allowed me to return to Shinichi for about 24 hours. This was the reason I kept popping up every once in a while."

"Then why weren't you popping pills all the time?"

"Because they hurt like mad. Also, Ai said that if I did pop pills every chance I had, my heart would fail and I would die."

"Oh…" Ran said. She was suddenly very glad he hadn't.

"Alright, anymore questions so far?" Shinichi asked.

_I think that was the second twinge. _Heiji thought to himself, deciding not to voice his opinion. Everyone else shook their heads.

"Good, now back to my story … "

As I lay on the floor, sweating up a storm, I realized that something had happened. I felt my body start to grow. My clothes were ripped apart and I hurt everywhere. Before I finished transforming, I lost consciousness. When I awoke, I looked at a clock. After spending some time finding my normal clothes and getting used to my larger body, I tried to find out how long I had been out. The result startled me to say the least. According to the news, I had been out for 8 days. I walked over to Agasa's house and rang the doorbell.

"Shinichi?"

"Hello Agasa. What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Maybe I have," the doc replied, still very pale.

After assuring Agasa I was alive and me, he allowed me in. He called for Ai to come down and when she did, I think her poker face was destroyed. She took one look at me and ran screaming down the hall. I had to chase after her in order to stop her from doing something stupid. I finally caught up to her in her room.

"Ai-kun! Stop this right now!" I shouted at her as I held her down on her bed.

"Y… you're dead!" she wailed, not looking at me.

"No I'm not!" I replied, trying to stop her from grabbing her gun. "I'm just as much alive as you are."

"No, no, no, no, no!" she cried, still reaching for the weapon. "You're dead and you're back to haunt me for making the pill!"

"Ai! Stop this silliness right now. You never believed in the supernatural before. Don't start to now."

I think dropping the –kun from her name finally broke her out of her fear. I hadn't meant to do that, but it was too late to do anything about it. "Ai, I'm alive and I'm back. I think your pill did the trick. The cure worked. Look at me, I'm not Conan anymore. I'm Shinichi."

"W…why did you die, though? I saw you die. I went to your funeral two days ago."

"At the funeral, they buried a empty casket. I escaped when they were transporting me to the cemetery."

"So why did you choose now to come back?" she asked, still visibly shaken.

"Well, being out of it for most of the time has something to do with it. I managed to get to my house and into the living room before I lost consciousness. I don't know how long I laid on the floor, but when I came to, I was very hungry and very thirsty. I spent most of this morning eating what food I had left."

Ai calmed considerably at my explanation. "So what are you going to do? Everyone else thinks you're dead."

"I really don't know." I said. I was rather surprised when my mind finally registered that I was holding down an 8-year old girl. "Ai, why aren't you back in your old body?"

Ai looked at me strangely and laughed. "Think about it Kudo. If I was back in my body, how long do you think it would take for them to find us." I nodded, seeing her logic. "So when I changed back, I decided to take one of the pills again. I ran some tests before hand to make sure this time it would be permanent. I don't know why the first time wasn't, but now I'm stuck it this form. I really don't care. I actually have friends now, and so I want to stay with them. I thank you for the new life you've shown me, Kudo-kun. If not for you, I'd have been part of the Black Ops again. You've sheltered me even after all I've done to ruin your life. I can't say what that means to me."

I smiled and nodded again. "I think I know how you feel. Without you, I'd have died and not come back. I think that I need to see Ran, though. She's probably very depressed."

Ai laughed. "That's an understatement. Go Kudo. She needs your support. Go to her." She 'pushed' me out the door and down the hall.

I laughed and then decided that I needed to go home for awhile. I was very tired from the transformation and so I need to sleep for a time. I arrived home and immediately headed for my room. Glancing at the clock while I changed out of my normal everyday clothes, I noticed that I had most of the morning left. I decided to take a few hours nap.

When I awoke, though, I realized that I had overslept. It was already 1:30 am. Not wanting to wait any longer because of a dream I had had, I headed out the door and down the street. I got into Ran's room by climbing a tree and opening up her window. Once inside, I quietly shut the window and stood over by the door, not wanting to wake her up. After a few minutes, I accidentally kicked the desk and not so silently cursed. As I held my foot, I noticed that my talking had woken Ran up. I was wearing my school clothes, and so I stood up straight, looking right at her. It took her a few moments to realize that I was there.

"Shinichi?" she asked, sounding scared.

I smiled. "Hello Ran. Nice to see you again."

"How?" She looked like she wanted to jump up and run screaming down the hall. Well, either that or come running at me.

I just smiled and walked over to her. Bending down low, I hugged her. "I promised not to leave you alone. I'm going to make good on that promise."

I told her to sleep, for she looked very tired. She finally agreed, but ended up using me as a teddy bear. I didn't mind and I tried to get some sleep…

"…This morning, we decided to have some fun with you so I sat myself down at the kitchen table while Ran answered the door, acting like nothing was wrong. That brings us back to where we are now." Shinichi looked very tired as he finished his narration. He had talked for a long time. "So, now what shall we do?" he asked the group.

Heiji looked at the detective funny. "So what you're saying is that Ai's cure worked, but not the way we thought it would?" His mind was still working on an explanation for the twinges he'd felt since Conan's death and was having some trouble absorbing it all. He decided that he needed to talk to Shinichi privately about it later.

"Yeah, I guess so. That's the only thing that I can contribute my being alive to. From what happened, I think the cure gave me a death-like look and almost killed me. Other than that, I really don't know."

"Fine, fine. I think now we should make plans to take down the Black Ops."

"Who's the Black Ops?" Ran asked, looking very confused. Kazuha had a similar expression on her face.

Shinichi sighed. "The Black Ops are the ones who made me Conan. Hattori and I have been working to bring them down, but we haven't been able to do much right now."

"Oh…" the girls commented in unison.

"Well, I say we celebrate Shinichi's return." Heiji commented and was met with cheers. "How about the new museum in Tokyo? I've heard they've got a great display of jewels."

Shinichi smiled. He knew what Heiji was really planing on doing, even if the girls didn't. "Why not? It's not everyday someone who's supposed to be dead shows up alive." _And gets to pull one on the Kid._

It took a few minutes, but the couples were soon ready to go. They decided it was best if Heiji rented a car, for they wouldn't all fit on his motorcycle and Shinichi didn't need to be seen just yet. Once Heiji returned, they were off on another adventure.

------------

Kuroba Kaito walked into the display area at the new Tokyo Rare Artifacts Museum. Instead of looking at the jewels, his eyes were watching the roofs and doors, looking for escape routes. He'd taken advantage of his class field trip to the museum to plan for his next heist.

"Kaito! Where the heck is your brain? I've been talking to you for over 5 minutes, and you haven't responded once!" Aoko, Kaito's classmate, told him angrily.

_OPPS!_ Kaito thought. _Got sidetracked._ "Aoko, give me a break. All I'm doing is looking at the jewels." _Among other thing,_ he quietly snickered to himself.

"More like contemplating stealing them," Hakuba's voice sounded from behind him.

"Give it up, Hakuba! I'm not Kid!" Kaito angrily told the detective for the umpteenth time that day.

"Who says your not?" Akako asked, her voice soft but very audible. At museums, Hakuba usually stuck to Kaito like glue, hoping to find a way to prove that Kaito was the Kid once and for all. Because of this, Akako usually tagged along, hoping for some entertainment.

"I DID!" interjected Aoko. She hated Kid, and so couldn't believe that Kaito was the Kaitou Kid. After all, they'd been friends ever since they were seven years old. There was no way that Kaito would become Kid without him telling her about it. They never had secrets between them before.

_Thanks Aoko. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you yet that I really am Kid. Not just yet,_ Kaito silently thanked his best friend or, as people said, girlfriend.

"Why don't we go get refreshments? I want some ice cream!" Kaito said as he shot off energetically. The rest of the group had no choice but to follow if they wanted any chance of seeing Kaito again within the next few hours. He could run so fast; almost no one could keep up. Especially if he didn't want them to.

Kaito laughed as he rounded a bend and suddenly stopped, causing the rest of his group to crash into him. Kaito didn't care. Standing a little ways away was Kudo Shinichi. _He's dead!_ Kaito thought immediately. _I know he's dead. I went to his funeral!_ Yet there he was, holding hands with Mouri Ran, chatting animatedly with Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha.

"Kaito? What's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost?" Aoko's voice was lightly flavored with concern.

_Yeah, I think I just did._ "Um… just doing a brake check," Kaito answered and silently thanked his dad for teaching him to have a poker face. Hakuba groaned at his response. Kaito put on a happy grin and shot off again towards the ice cream parlor. His mind, on the other hand, never stopped wondering who was doing such a good job at impersonating Shinichi. He resolved to find out after school.

------------

The four teenagers had returned to Shinichi's house from their trip to the museum and were talking in the living room when the doorbell rang. Ran got up to answer it and was surprised to find boy looking almost exactly like Shinichi standing in front of her.

"Where is he?" the boy demanded angrily.

"Where's who?" she asked, not understanding completely.

"The guy impersonating Kudo Shinichi."

Oh. "There's no one impersonating Shinichi."

"Yeah there is. I saw him at the museum with you. Shinichi's dead. I know that."

"How?" Ran was getting a little scared. Who was this boy?

"Hello Kaito," Shinichi's voice came from the living room. Apparently he'd heard the conversation. "Why don't you come in?"

Kaito walked in slowly, like he was looking for traps. Ran led him into the living room.

"Who are you and why are you making this harder on Mouri-san?" Kaito demanded when he saw Shinichi.

"My, my. Kaito, I'd have thought that you of all people would've recognized me," Shinichi replied with a smirk. "After all, we've spent so much time chasing one another."

Kaito was floored. How did this person know about that? Both he and Shinichi had kept it a secret from anyone else. "Don't tell me, you think you're Shinichi reincarnated?" Kaito asked, jokingly. He hoped the boy would mess up somehow and then Kaito could prove that he wasn't Shinichi.

"Nope, I'm just Shinichi."

"Kuroba-kun, I know this is hard to believe, but that's Shinichi. He's not dead anymore," Heiji told the thief very seriously.

Okay, there's something going on, Kaito thought nervously. _Heiji being serious is like me marrying Akako. It never happens._

"Hattori, I'd thought that at least you didn't believe in the supernatural," Kaito shot at him.

"I don't. Kudo's back because of the cure Haibara-san gave him."

"I saw Shinichi dead! I went to his funeral!"

"He told us what happened. Believe me, he surprised us all." Heiji looked at Shinichi, who promptly sighed, and reluctantly agreed with Heiji that Kaito wouldn't believe him until he'd heard his story. "Sit down Kaito. I'll tell you how I survived." Kaito sat down and Shinichi told him the same story that he'd told the others.

When he'd finished, Kaito was stunned. Just then the doorbell rang, freeing Kaito to try processing the information some more. Shinichi got up to answer. When he opened the door, the girl outside grabbed his jacket and pulled him outside.

"Kaito! We're going home right now! Next time, I'm not going to cover up for you," she told him as she started to drag him down the street.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Shinichi feebly tried to tell her. "I'm not Kaito! You're mixed up!"

"Stop playing games or I'll get my mop!"

"Aoko! Whatcha doing with him?" Kaito's voice came from the house and not from the boy she'd been dragging down the stairs.

"Uh? Kaito?" She looked up and saw Kaito standing in the doorway. "If you're Kaito, then who's this?" she asked, now very confused.

Shinichi pulled himself out of her grasp. "I'm Kudo Shinichi. Hajimemashite." He stuck out his hand.

Aoko gulped. "_The _Kudo Shinichi? The famous detective that disappeared without a trace almost a year ago?"

Shinichi nodded. "The one and only. Why don't you come inside? We've got some discussing we need to do with Kaito and you're welcome to join us."

Aoko just stared at him. Eventually she turned and started to walk back to the house. Just as she was about to enter, a shout came from down the street.

"Nakamori-chan! Kuroba-kun!" It was Hakuba Saguru running towards them, being followed by none other than Koizumi Akako.

Kaito and Aoko turned around at the sound of his voice. "Hello Hakuba-kun, Koizumi-chan!" Aoko joyfully answered them as she waved.

Shinichi sighed. The day was turning out to be a very long one. _Oh, well. They're here, so might as well._ "Hakuba-san, Koizumi-san. Will you come in?" he asked as they reached the house. Both looked at him funny, but then nodded.

After everyone was situated again in the living room, Shinichi spoke. "Alright, since we're all hear, why don't we get down to business. I think it's time we took down the Black Organization for good."

Kaito stared, Heiji nodded, Hakuba looked confused and Akako laughed quietly.

"I think if we work together, we can do it. At least the one in Japan. Any questions so far?" Everyone shook their heads. "Good. I think since we're going to need to depend on each other for our lives, we should have no secrets between us. That includes me too. To let everyone know, I was once Edogawa Conan. The same boy who's funeral most of you went to." Hakuba looked white as a ghost, while Aoko was shaking her head. Akako, surprisingly, nodded.

"That's not possible," Aoko stated. "People don't just change into little kids and back again. And for another, you'd be dead if you were Conan-kun."

"He was dead," Heiji told her. "Haibara-san saved his life without knowing it. Oh, and Kudo? Don't die on me again. That hurt."

Shinichi laughed. "Try being the one who died. That kills." While every one was laughing at his joke, Shinichi looked over at Kaito. Kaito looked back, and then shook his head. Shinichi nodded, respecting his decision. Kaito would tell Aoko and the others later about his 'other self'. One day, they would all be able to tell their special someones all of their secrets. For now, they were going to have to trust each other. It was this trust that they would need to survive the fight.

3 detectives, 1 thief, 1 tomboy, a karate champion, a sorceress, and the daughter of a police inspector all forming an unstoppable unit. The Black Organization won't stand a chance.

------------

Japanese words:

Ohayo - Good morning

Hajimemashite - pleased to meet you


	5. Revelations

Afterlife

Disclaimer: Um…um.. Do I have to? _Sees police officers waiting with handcuffs _Okay, Okay! I don't own anything! _mumbling _'That's what I want them to think anyways.'

Chapter 5 - Revelations

Shinichi looked at the group in his living room. _Yes, it's going to be difficult to get them to work together._ He thought sullenly to himself. _If we are to survive, each must trust the other. I know that now._

"Kudo, what's going to happen now?" Heiji asked, interrupting Shinichi's thoughts. "Since we're all here, we might as well discuss what we're going to do."

Shinichi nodded. "Agreed. Any ideas about how to proceed?" Every one shook their head. Shinichi sighed. "That's no help." His statement was met with silence.

"Kudo-kun, I think what we need to do is to setup a headquarters. It should be somewhere that no one else would know about, and safe." Kaito spoke up at last.

"Any suggestions as to where?" Shinichi asked.

"Not at any of our houses. They're probably watched. We should do it somewhere no one could find." Kaito said. "Somewhere away from the main city, but not far enough to not bring a group of travelers around."

"Like it make a difference." Heiji commented. "We don't have the money to setup a place like that."

"Who says we need money?" Akako asks. "I happen to know of a place we can use. It's one of my smaller homes, one that I don't use often."

"Why would we want to go there?" Hakuba interjected, being dense as usual. "If we do, you'll do something to us that we'll not like."

"There, there, Hakuba-kun. You implying that I'd do something to you in the face of danger?" Akako stated sweetly while looking innocent, something she was very good at.

"Implying my hawk. I _know_ you would." he retorted.

Akako just smiled. "You know, people would almost think that you're afraid of me."

Hakuba sweatdropped. "Afraid of you? If there's anyone who isn't at least wary of her then I'll eat my hat!"

Heiji laughed, startling Hakuba. "You'd better start chewing. Kudo and I aren't afraid of her."

"Speak for yourself." Shinichi mumbled. "I may not be afraid, but at least I know when to be on the cautious side of things, unlike you."

"This fighting is getting us no where!" Aoko shouted, surprising everyone. "We need to come up with a plan and a hide out. Right now, Koizumi-chan's house is the best that anyone's come up with. I say we go with it, unless anyone has other ideas." She looked sternly around the room, as if daring someone to speak.

"I know of a place that we can go. It's not used very much, but my dad made sure it was safe." Kaito piped up, surprising Aoko. She'd thought that he'd stay silent when he'd seen her face.

"Alright, any objections to Kaito's place?" Everyone except Akako shook their heads. "Fine, let's split up for the night. If you need to call anyone, use cell phones. They're harder to tap into."

The group split up and headed out of the house. Aoko, Kaito, Hakuba and Akako all headed back to their part of Tokyo while Shinichi, Ran, Heiji and Kazuha went back to the Agency. The two couples sat around the living room, looking at one another. They all jumped when the front door opened.

"RAN! Where's my dinner?" Kogoro shouted, walking into the room. "I'm dying of hunger and…" his voice trailed off as he looked at the teenagers.

"YOU! BOY! ARGH!" Kogoro managed to spit out, charging for Shinichi. Shinichi managed to move out of the way, and so Kogoro ran full tilt into the couch and flipped over the back. As he lay on the floor, his head spinning, he heard laughter coming from Ran. _If that Kudo boy's managed to get Ran happier, than I guess I can survive for a while with him._ Kogoro thought in amazement.

"Mouri-san," Shinichi said, holding a hand out to help him. "Let me help you up off the floor." Kogoro gave him a surprised look, for Shinichi hadn't ever done something like this before. "What? Can't a guy help out a friend?"

"A friend?" Kogoro said, sarcastically. "More like just to keep me happy so you can date my daughter!"

"Same thing, ain't it?" Heiji spoke up, sending everyone, including Kogoro, into laughter.

"Dad! Shinichi just got back, and you're bugging him again!" Ran complained when the laughter died down. "I'm just happy that he's back." _Especially since I thought that he'd never come back._ She commented to herself.

Kogoro seemed to calm down. "Fine, but if he leaves you again like before, he'd better run fast. I'll kill him if he breaks your heart again."

"DAD!" Ran started, but Shinichi cut her off. "You have my word, Mouri-san, that I don't plan on leaving for a long time."

"Fine, but you'd better keep your word."

Soon, Ran, with the help of Kazuha, had dinner ready. Everyone sat down at the table and ate. When they were done, Heiji and Kazuha, noticing the time, decided to head back to their hotel. Things became a lot quieter when they left. Shinichi decided that it would be best if he left too, so he said goodnight to all of them and headed out the door.

The next day…

Kaito looked around the room his father had build to house all of the Kaito Kid stuff that had been collected. He'd planned on a heist that night, and decided to go ahead with it. _After all, _Kaito thought while laughing quietly, _I couldn't disappoint Nakamori-keibu. He's such a great audience._

He pulled out the white tuxedo, complete with a cape, hat and monocle. He stuffed it all into a bag that he was going to be carrying while in his disguise as an old grandma. Oh, boy. If only Nakamori knew how he's been getting into the heist areas. He'd probably burst a vane. After all, who'd suspect a poor, old, decrypted grandma?

Kaito laughed as he put some of his other 'tools' into the bag as well. _Sometimes, I'm surprised that I don't get caught with the way I'm jumping off walls before hand._ He finished packing by adding some clothes and other things on top, to make it look like he'd just come from a store. He then set off for that night's entertainment show.

------------

"KID! GET YOUR $&&$# DOWN HERE NOW!" Inspector Nakamori shouted at the thief.

"My, my Nakamori-keibu. You do have a foul mouth. Do you use it around your daughter often?" Kaitou Kid said, prodding the inspector into even more cussing. Kid laughed as he jumped down, landing next to Nakamori. "You know, I think you need your mouth washed out with soap. After all, that's what everyone's mother does, right?" He threw a handkerchief at the inspector, counted to three and pulled it off again revealing a surprised policeman with soap bubbles coming out of his mouth. Everyone on the Kaitou Kid Taskforce laughed as the Inspector turned beet red from anger.

"MRRPH! KDD!" He shouted through the foam. Surprisingly, though, it didn't taste like soap. Instead, it tasted more like cotton candy, which the inspector was fond of. _BLASTED KID! _His mind roared. _Trust him to come up with something like this._ He was literally foaming at the mouth with anger.

The Kaitou Kid laughed again at the enraged Inspector Nakamori. Just before he turned to leave, he felt hands grab him around his stomach. _DAMN!_ Kaito silently swore as he looked over his should into the eyes of a detective, _I forgot about Hakuba!_

"I wouldn't try to escape if I were you." The British softly told him. He wasn't looking at Kid, but at the Inspector. A loud _Click _told Kaito to look back at Nakamori. Kaito shifted his eyes back to the policeman. He noticed that there was a gun pointed right at his heart. _CRAP!_ Kaito silently swore again. _NOW how do I get out of this. _As if an answer to his question, shots rang out, injuring several of the policemen.

"OH SHOOT! It's them." Kaito shouted, realizing who was doing the firing. Hakuba looked at the thief like he was crazy.

Kaito said nothing, instead he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and Hakuba felt someone dragging him down by the back of his shirt. He hit the floor with a bang, injuring his arm slightly. After the initial pain wore off, Hakuba looked around. Lying on the ground next to him was Inspector Nakamori, who looked mad, worried, and surprised at the same time.

"Stay down," Hakuba heard Kid's voice come from behind him. "Unless you want to become Swiss cheese." Hakuba silently agreed as more shots rang out.

Nakamori-keibu wasn't happy. Grumbling, he sat up. "KID! WHERE THE &($&($ ARE YOU?" the inspector swore loudly.

Hakuba also swore as the shots turned and started to come at them. "Are you an idiot?" He whispered to the inspector. "Shouting drew their fire to us!"

"I know." Nakamori-keibu was surprisingly calm. "That way, they'd stop shooting my men. Hopefully, some of them took my lead and are trying to find out where the assassins are at."

"I hope this is worth dying for." Hakuba said, trying to steel himself for the pain of bullets ripping through his body.

"No one is going to die from this." Kid said, surprising both of them. They had forgotten about him in the mist of the life or death situation. "I'll stop them, right after I call for backup."

"Backup?" Nakamori asked, surprised. Since when did the Kaito Kid have backup?

"HQ? This is Kat one requesting backup. They're here." Kid spoke into a small microphone on his tux. If Hakuba hadn't seen him touch it, then he'd never known it was there.

"Roger. Sending backup." The voice came over a speaker in the Kid's ear. Nakamori could barely hear it, but he knew whose voice that was.

"_KUDO SHINICHI?_" What was the teenage detective doing in league with the Kaitou Kid? From everything he knew and had seen, Shinichi wanted nothing more than to stop Kid. So why was he helping him? "What on earth is he doing working with you?" he shouted angrily.

"Nakamori-keibu, please calm down. We'll explain everything later, after we get out of this alive." Hakuba told the inspector.

_HAKUBA'S ALSO PART OF THIS! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?_ Nakamori thought angrily, as he tried to process the information.

Kid looked seriously at the policeman, something that never happened before. "Inspector Nakamori, I promise that if we get out of here, I'll tell you my secret. We'll need your help."

The inspector nodded. After all, he could see that without them, he'd never survive to see Aoko again. The thought of Aoko burned his heart. In all of the years he'd chased the Kid, Aoko wasn't very happy. He'd not been able to be with her as much as he should have. _Something that, after today, will be corrected, _he decided.

"Kat, we've got Ichi and Tori coming to help." This time a female's voice came over the speaker on Kid's tux. It couldn't be…could it? What was she doing in all of this?

The inspector grabbed Kid and talked into his microphone. "Aoko?"

"Dad? What are you going with Kaito?" She sounded surprised too.

"Uh, Aoko. I'm not with Kaito. I'm with Kid."

"Kid? Dad, what are you talking about?" She sounded very confused.

"Oh crap." Kid said, as he hung his head. "They're going to find out."

------------

Aoko overheard Kaito's remark. _Wait…If Kaito's with Dad, and Dad's with Kid, then that must mean …_The realization hit her like a sledgehammer. "NO! YOU CAN'T BE! KAITO, YOU CAN'T BE KID!"

She heard Kaito's laugh coming from the other end of the speaker. "I can't, can I? I'm sorry for deceiving you, Aoko. I truly am."

She didn't hear anything more. Her own anger clouded all of her other senses. "KAITO, HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU BE SO…SO…" she couldn't think of a curse good enough for what Kaito had done. "WHY, KAITO? WHY?" She felt something trickle down the side of her face, but her brain didn't register that she was crying.

"Aoko, when we met up again, I'll explain everything. I've been hiding it too long." His calm voice soothed her aching heart. "I promise."

Aoko nodded, not that Kaito could see her. "All right, but when you get back …" She let the threat just hang.

Kaito laughed. "That's the Aoko I know."

Aoko smiled. Blame Kaito to make her happy again. "Be careful. Ichi and Tori should be there soon, Kat."

"I'm glad that you've become stable again. I'll see you soon. Be careful too." Kaito's voice was unusually concerned. That almost never happened.

"WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE $(#$&ING IS GOING ON?" Aoko heard her dad roar though the intercom. _Poor Kaito, now he gets to deal with Dad. _She thought, concerned. Then she did a reality check. _It's not like he doesn't deserve it._

"Bzzzzzzzz" The intercom made a fuzzy noise as Kaito shut his end off.

------------

Kaito looked back at the dumb-founded Inspector and the cocky detective. "You guys ready?"

"I knew it was you. All the time, I knew it was you." Hakuba gleefully told the thief. "You can deny it all you want, but I have the information to put you behind bars now."

"HAKUBA! WILL YOU DROP THAT?" Kaito angrily told the blond. He was getting tired of his constant pestering. _Plan. Got to come up with a plan. _His mind did 360's trying to find something to keep them alive until the backup showed up. Then the idea hit him. It hit him HARD! Nakamori had just slugged him, but he didn't care.

"Nakamori-keibu, I need your help. Yours too, Hakuba."

"What's the plan?" Inspector Nakamori asked. After all, he hadn't slugged Kaitou Kid for nothing.

"When I say now, I need the two of you to get in a fight. Draw attention to yourselves. Make them forget that I'm here for a few moments."

"Why? So that you could escape?" Hakuba demanded, very suspicious.

"If you're worried that I won't stay around, I can assure you that I will be here when this fight's over. I just need a distraction. Thief's honor."

Hakuba looked at Nakamori, who looked back. Silently, they both agreed.

"Good. Now, on the count of three. One…Two…THREE!" Kaito shouted to the world, trying to draw attention.

"HAKUBA YOU GET YOUR #&$(#&$ING (#( BACK HERE! THE KID'S BOUND TO BE BACK. HE DIDN'T TAKE THE GEM THIS TIME, SO HE'LL BE BACK!" Nakamori yelled for the whole world.

Hakuba was stunned for a few minutes, but then regained his voice. "NAKAMORI-KEIBU! NOW SEE HERE. IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU AND YOUR MEN, I'D HAVE GOTTEN THAT THIEF A LONG TIME AGO!"

Nakamori turned red. "YOU (&($NG DETECTIVE. YOU NEVER COULD GET THE KID. I'LL BE THE FIRST TO CAPTURE HIM."

Kid smiled; they were certainly drawing attention to themselves. He silently saluted the two and turned around, vanishing from the sight of the two 'arguing' policemen. As they continued their charade, they heard some shouts, yells, cries of pain, and bombs exploding. _What the HELL is happening?_ They both thought at the same time, as the turned toward the source of the distraction.

They saw men in black, wearing sunglasses, moving around while being taunted by the Kaitou Kid. He'd do backflips off of one while another was trying to punch him, and ending up hitting his comrade. Kid just laughed and occasionally throwing a gas bomb or two, knocking out more of the intruders. Hakuba heard a click and quickly turned around. Behind him, Nakamori readied his gun.

"Nakamori-keibu, don't shoot. You might hit Kid." Hakuba hissed at the inspector.

"I'm not going to shoot. This is just incase something happens that we didn't expect." The inspector hissed back.

"Like what?" A new voice sounded from behind them. Thinking the worst, they both turned around, guns pointed at heart level. Behind them were Kudo Shinichi and Hattori Heiji.

"Hey, don't point that thing. Someone might get hurt." Heiji said with a smile.

"Yeah, like you?" Shinichi replied, shooting Heiji an annoyed look. Heiji just shrugged. Shinichi turned back to Hakuba and Nakamori. "What's happening? Where's Kid?"

"Kuroba is over there distracting those men in black." Hakuba said, gesturing to where Kid was just finishing a round of 'dogpile the bandit' with the enemy. Like usual, all that happened was that the men were all on top of one another and Kid as standing to the side, laughing.

"Wait, you said 'Kuroba'. Why didn't you say 'Kaitou' or 'Kid'?" Shinichi asked, not for sure why they knew Kaito was Kid.

"Because we figured it out and Kuroba finally stopped denying that he was Kid." Hakuba said, this time with a smirk on his face.

_Oh. That makes sense. _"Well, let's go now that he's stopped playing with the enemy." Heiji stated. Kaito had indeed stopped playing, for all the men in black were on the ground groaning in pain or unconscious. _They must have been playing for keeps to make Kaito actually hurt them. He hates causing people pain._ Shinichi thought as they all headed over to him.

"Hello, Kaito. You have a fun time?" Heiji asked, his humor not quite lost because of the situation.

"Yeah, but I had to hurry up at the end. They seemed that they liked to hurt themselves more than me." Kid replied back with a smirk.

"Well, what can you expect from a bunch of no-brainers?"

"Let's see what information they have." Shinichi inputted, motioning back to the operatives.

Everyone followed, but when they arrived, the scene wasn't what they expected. Instead of finding people lying around, knocked out, they found a bunch of corpses.

"KID? What did you do?" Heiji snapped at Kaito.

Kaito, for once, looked very confused. "I didn't do anything. When I left them, they were all asleep or unconscious. How do I know how they died?" He didn't like admitting it, but if the Black Operatives were dead, that meant that there were still more operatives very much alive.

"Spread out and search the premises." Nakamori barked.

"That'll do no good. They've probably already left, after removing evidence." Shinichi replied.

Nakamori looked confused as to the detective's reasoning. "Why do you say that?" he asked gruffly.

"Because I know the organization. When their plan goes wrong, they leave, removing all evidence that can point back to them. This includes the unlucky operatives." His face wasn't one of hurt, instead one of anger and rage.

"We'll learn nothing more here, let's go back to HQ." Kaito stated, once they had finished inspecting the remains. Everyone agreed, and so they led Inspector Nakamori back to their headquarters.

------------

Aoko sat down in the chair by the communications board. They had spent the last day setting up their hideout, trying to make it inconspicuous as possible. She and the other girls were the only ones there now, since Shinichi, Heiji, Kaito and Hakuba were all at the heist.

She felt tears start to form in her eyes as her thoughts turned back to Kaito and the heist. _How **dare** he not tell me!_ Her mind screamed in rage. _I thought that I meant something to him! I thought that we were friends! _She sobbed even harder. _Instead, He leaves me in the dark! He's taken my dad away from me, having him spend all of his time at those **stupid** heists! _She put her hands over her eyes, as her tears became a raging torrent. _He's just a selfish brat who likes to steal gems and embarrass dad!_

She felt doubt start to grow as a part of her retaliated to her thoughts. **_What if he didn't tell you so to save you from the pain. If he'd told you, it would make you have to choose between him and your dad. Which one would you have chosen?_ **Aoko shook her head. She didn't like this new voice. _Why my dad, of course. _She could've sworn that she'd heard it laugh. **_Are you for sure?_** _Yes, I'm for sure. Why wouldn't I be? Why would I choose Kaito?…_

Her thoughts drifted off as the thought of Kaito brought up new emotions. Anger and pain she could deal with, but this…this was new. It was the kind of feeling she had when he gave her flowers, or did something that made her happy. This was the kind of feeling that she would try to hide by chasing him around the room with a mop.

****

**_Are you sure that you wouldn't have chosen Kaito?_** The damn voice was back. **_I know your true feelings, and you know them too. _**Aoko shook her head again. _I don't care about that BAKA anymore. I NEVER cared about him. _Even as she thought this, she knew it not to be true. **_You know that you do. You always have, and you always will._**

Aoko knew now that the voice belonged to her true self. The part of her that wasn't covered by hate or anger; the part that loved Kaito, not because he was Kid, but because he was _different_. All the other boys seemed dull when compared to Kaito. It wasn't because he would do something at the drop of a hat. Instead, it was because she saw a fire burning in his eyes. A fire that seemed to make the rest of the world disappear when she looked in them. It was this fire that she loved. And so, she loved the man that came with it. Every last part of her wanted for him to hold her and not let go, something that he'd rarely done.

****

**_Be true to your feelings and you will be true to him. _**The voice was back again, but this time she didn't care. It spoke the truth. She knew that no matter what, she would always love Kaito. She just hoped that he felt the same way about her.

She wiped away the remains of her tears as she straighten her back. She took a look around, noticing finally that the place was too quiet. _That's odd. _She thought. _Ran-chan, Kazuha-chan and Koizumi-chan should be here. They usually aren't this quiet, especially Koizumi-chan._

Aoko got out of her chair and headed to the door. Opening it, she was greeted to a scene that she hadn't expected. Instead of being all nice and clean, the living room had been torn apart. Papers were thrown everywhere, wastebaskets were toppled over. Lying on the ground unmoving in the middle of the mess were Toyama Kazuha and Koizumi Nakamori. Her voice was caught as fear filled her being.

She rushed to their side, hoping that they weren't dead. She put her fingers on their necks, checking for their pulse. Both were beating very strongly. They, apparently, were unconscious. _Thank god they're alright. _She thought as the fear melted away. She tried to shake them awake but they refused to come back to the world.

Aoko noticed a piece of paper stuck to Kazuha's jacket. It looked like it had been placed there purposely. She opened it and read the simple words that struck terror into her heart. _We have angel. If you want to see her again, meet me at the abandoned warehouse, Cool Guy. Vermouth._

Aoko felt tears come down her check as she clutched the small sheet of paper. She knew who had Ran now. She heard the door open again, but she didn't bother to turn around.

"Aoko? What are you doing in here?" It was Kaito.

"Aoko?" Kaito asked again. His breath was caught in his throat when he noticed what happened to the room. It was totally ransacked, and papers were everywhere. Right in the middle, lying next to Aoko, were Kazuha and Akako, neither moving. A red liquid nearby made the girls look like they were dead. Heiji started to panic, but Hakuba noticed that it was just mostly thawed Fruit Juice.

"KAZUHA!" Heiji shouted as he ran to her side. He knelt down and shook her.

After a few intense seconds, she opened her eyes and stared at him. "Heiji?" She asked, her voice weak.

Heiji smiled. "Kazuha," He suddenly hugged her, surprising everyone including Kazuha. "I thought that I'd lost you." He felt his face redden, but he didn't care. Apparently, Kazuha also didn't care for she put her arms around Heiji. When they let go, Heiji noticed that Hakuba was at Akako's side.

"Koizumi-chan, Koizumi-chan. Wake up." Hakuba said, shaking her. Akako's eyes fluttered open and she looked at the detective.

"Hakuba?" She asked.

"Koizumi-chan, what happened?" He questioned her, trying to piece together what happened.

"Don't really remember. Kazuha and I were talking in the living room when Kazuha suddenly fell down, unconscious. I stood up to look at her and I was quacked from behind. That's the last thing I remember."

Shinichi walked into the room, having waited outside while talking with Inspector Nakamori and so missed what had happened.

"Ran? Where's Ran?" he said, looking around the room.

Silently Aoko gave him the note she'd found. As he scanned the message, his face changed from surprise to fear to anger before the poker face slid into place. "They've got Ran," he said, crumpling the note in this hand.

"Kudo, We'll get her back. I can promise that," Heiji told his friend, putting a hand on the detective's shoulder.

"Yeah, and they'll pay if they've harmed her." A fire burned in Shinichi's eyes that made even Heiji and Kaito a little worried. This was nothing like the Kudo Shinichi they knew. The Shinichi they knew was cool headed and long to worry or get angry. In front of them, instead, was a Shinichi that was burning with barely controlled rage. This wasn't good at all.

"Kudo-kun, what do we do now?" Hakuba asked, getting off of the floor and helping Akako up as well.

"We're going to get them," was all they got out of the famous detective before he headed out of the door.

Heiji looked at Kaito and Hakuba. They both nodded, and all three of them headed after them, after saying good-bye to their respective girls. Aoko, Kazuha, Akako, and Inspector Nakamori watched the retreating forms of the four boys.

"I hope they'll be alright," Inspector Nakamori stated, looking at his daughter.

Aoko nodded. She motioned to the other 2 girls to follow the boys. They both nodded and started to chase after the boys. Aoko stayed behind.

"Touchan, I need you to stay here. We have a communication system that'll keep you in touch with us. That way, you can bring backup if we need it," Aoko told her father.

"But…" her father started to protest.

"No, Touchan, you must stay here. Have the policemen be ready just in case. This battle is between the eight of us and the organization that took Ran-chan. Kudo-kun won't be satisfied until we bring them down, and he wants to do it himself, especially now that they've got Ran-chan."

Her father nodded, understanding finally. "You go, but keep in touch. I'll be waiting for your word."

Aoko smiled, kissed her dad lightly on the cheek, and ran off to catch up with the others. They, luckily, hadn't gotten very far.

The Black Organization better watch out. Seven teenagers on a rampage are coming. This time, to take them out for good. No one was going to stop them.


	6. One Down

Afterlife

Disclaimer: _Shakes head _Why do I have to do these? Wouldn't it be easier just to have me own Detective Conan? Please? _Looks very hopeful_ Darn. I don't own Detective Conan. I'm still going to try, though.

Chapter 6 - One Down …

Lightning shot through the air and thunder soon followed as the rain started to fall, drenching everyone outside. It didn't bug the 7 teenagers who were walking toward the older part of Tokyo.

"Kudo, what are we going to do? Do you trust her?" Heiji asked the detective.

"No, and that's why we need a plan," Shinichi replied, his voice unusually cold. "Vermouth has her own way of doing things, so we need to be prepared for anything; most importantly, the unexpected."

"Um…Kudo-san, what's the plan?" Hakuba asked. He was still a little nervous, and so wanted to make sure they knew what they were doing. Especially since they had the girls along.

"I'm not for sure. Plans aren't my strong suit. Kaito-san, can you come up with one?" Shinichi asked the thief.

"Why Kaito?" Aoko interrupted.

"Because of what he does," Heiji responded. "Think about it, if Kuroba-san wasn't good at coming up with plans on the fly, do you think he'd still be at large?"

"Oh, that does make sense," Aoko said. "Well, Kaito? Can you?"

"Been working on one ever since we found out that Mouri-san was captured," Kaito obliged, his face becoming more serious. "I think I've got one that will throw the Black Organization for a loop. Or at least Vermouth. I just need to work out a few more kinks."

"Well, hurry up. We don't have far to go," Shinichi told him as they started to approach the warehouse. Fortunately, they were still out of visual range.

"KUDO! WAIT UP!" a voice rang out. Immediately, all seven heads turned to the source and saw a young woman with dirty blond hair running toward them.

"Who's that?" Akako asked, getting ready to do something incase she was unfriendly.

"Miyano-kun, what are you doing here?" Shinichi asked bewildered. "I thought you'd made sure you wouldn't come back again."

"I took…one of the…temporary cures," Miyano responded as she finally caught up with them, out of breath. "I heard about…Mouri-chan, and I want…to help. It's my fault all…of this happened."

"Who are you?" Kaito asked, stepping in front of Aoko. Even though Shinichi acted like he knew who she was, he was still going to be cautious. At least until he knew more.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Miyano Shiho. You might also know her as Haibara Ai," Shinichi said, introducing the woman. "She's also a victim of the apotoxin."

"Another one? Like you were?" Hakuba asked, dense and confused as usual. "She's that little, quiet elementary school girl that seemed to have a crush on Conan? That Haibara Ai?"

"Yes, that girl," Shiho replied, getting angry now that she was no longer winded. "And to set the record straight, the only reason why Kudo-kun and I were together was for protection. He protected me, I worked on a cure."

"Yes, and over time you and I became friends," Shinichi reminded her.

"Anyways, how did you find out we were here?" Heiji asked her.

"I went to your base and found Nakamori-keibu. After convincing him that I was working with you, he told he where you went. I just ran all the way here."

"Miyano-kun, why are you doing this? Usually you're scared stiff around the Black Ops," Shinichi asked Shiho.

"I know. I'm still scared, but after I heard what happened to Mouri-chan, I decided I needed to help. I may not be much use but I'll do what I can. They want me dead, but if they're going to try to kill me, I might as well go out fighting. After all, that's what you'd do," she responded to his question.

"Fine, but I think we need to disguise you. Kaito?" Shinichi turned to look at the thief. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Kaito thought about it for a few moments. "Yeah. I know of a way that will not only confuse them but if it's too much for Miyano-san, she won't be in a lot of danger. Shinichi, do you still have your bowtie voice changer?"

Shinichi pondered for a moment and then put his hand into his pocket. "Yeah, though I don't know why I put it in there. It must be a habit by now," he commented as he pulled the bowtie out. "Here you go."

Kaito took it, moved the dial a few notches, and then pulled out a handkerchief. Throwing it over the startled Shiho, he counted to three and pulled it off. There was a big puff of smoke and when it disappeared, another Kaito stood in front of them.

"What the…" Shiho exclaimed in Kaito's voice. "How did he do that?"

Aoko laughed. "Kaito's a magician. Don't ask how he does it. He does the strangest and seemingly undoable things all the time."

Kaito smiled and another big smoke cloud appeared. When it finally moved, Miyano Shiho stood in his place, wearing exactly the same thing she had been. "You know, I think this dress is too short," Kaito commented in Shiho's voice. There was another puff of smoke and the said article of clothing grew a few inches. Hakuba, Shinichi, Heiji, Aoko and Akako all laughed.

"Well, are we ready then?" Shinichi asked, after he finally managed to stop his laughter.

"Yeah, lets do this," Heiji replied. Everyone else nodded, and so they proceeded once again towards the warehouse.

------------

"They're here," a tall blond man told the woman beside him.

"Good, did they come alone?" she asked, her voice light but cold.

He knew what she meant, but he was still annoyed. "Yes, I didn't expect the detective to go to the police. They also brought Sherry."

At the mention of the ex-operative's name, Vermouth flinched. "This will change nothing. Bring the girl up here. This time, the detective will want to see her first."

"Yes ma'am, just as long as we do as you agreed to." Gin's voice was dark and cold, like the murderer he was.

"Oh yes, Gin. You'll get your fun. The meitanteiwon't be so lucky this time."

Gin laughed at her remark. "He'd better not be. And we get to have our fun with Sherry also, right?"

Vermouth sighed. "Yes, Gin. You get to do what you want with her."

"Excellent."

------------

Shinichi looked around the warehouse as they entered, trying to locate possible places to house people. He didn't trust Vermouth to just want to 'talk' and expected her to have some trick up her sleeve. He planned to counter this by the plan Kaito had come up with. It was workable, but highly dangerous. It was so dangerous that they had talked about leaving the girls out but they'd been 'forceful' with their determination to stick this one out. Essentially, the guys had no choice but to allow them along for the ride.

They entered a room in the warehouse and saw a young woman in front of them, her back to the group. She was tied to a chair and looked like she was unconscious.

"Ran!" Shinichi shouted and lunged forward. Heiji and Hakuba grabbed the detective before he could take more then a few steps.

"Kudo, it may not be what it seems," Heiji pointed out while Shinichi struggled to get free. "Don't rush into it. That's what THEY want you to do. Think about it calmly. Then we might be able to beat them at their own game."

"I don't care. RAN!" Shinichi shouted, still struggling.

"Shinichi," 'Shiho' told him quietly. "Don't fall for their tricks. For all we know, they might just snatch her away again when we get there. Please calm down. We can't afford for you to go rushing in there trying to be the hero. I know how you feel about Mouri-san but right now you can't let your feelings get in the way."

Shinichi sighed and stopped his struggles. Kaito was right and he knew he needed to calm down. "Fine," he told his friend, "but if anything goes wrong, I want you to get her out of here."

Kaito nodded and the group started forward again.

"Hello, Cool Guy," a voice came from the darkness next to Ran. "You finally came."

"Vermouth, what's your catch this time?" Shinichi snapped at her.

"Now, now. Don't you trust me?" she asked innocently as she moved into the light, sarcasm evident in her voice.

"Trust you? Do I look stupid?"

"Sometimes, yes," Heiji mumbled to himself. Unfortunately, Shinichi heard him and shot him an angry glare.

"Oh, come on. All I want to do is talk," Vermouth continued.

"Yeah, and all I want to do is to leave without Ran," Shinichi shot back with sarcasm.

"You do? Fine, be my guest. It'll make my life so much easier."

"Enough talk," Heiji interrupted, his patience at its end. "What do you want?"

"Only to talk about what you've been doing," Vermouth replied with a grin.

"And you expect us to believe that?" Heiji asked.

"Yes, and to show my good will, I'll let Angel go."

Vermouth moved over to Ran, and cut the ropes that bound her to the chair. She then picked her up and walked over to the group. The teenagers tensed as she neared them. Vermouth just grinned, laid Ran at their feet and then retreated. While Heiji and Hakuba watched her warily, Shinichi knelt down and gently shook Ran wake. After a few seconds, her eye's opened and she looked into the face of a worried detective.

"Shinichi?" she asked, a little tired.

"Ran. I'm glad you're okay," he sighed, hugging her.

"Where are we?" Ran asked while clinging to Shinichi.

"Shh…We'll be fine. Just relax." He let go of her and helped her up off of the ground. Once they had dusted themselves off, Shinichi turned back to Vermouth. "All right, what do you want to talk about?"

"Now, now…"she said, shaking her head. "Is that anyway to talk to someone who just gave you back your Angel?"

"After you kidnapped her, yes."

"My, I'm going to have to teach you some manners." Vermouth grinned. "Actually, first let me introduce you to someone you've met before." She signaled to the darkness and two figures walked out of the shadows and into the light. "I believe you know Gin and Vodka."

'Kaito' started to shake with fear, but 'Shiho' put a comforting hand on 'his' shoulder. 'He' calmed down a little but still had a scared looked in 'his' eyes.

"Hello tantei, Sherry," Gin addressed them, a gleam in his eyes.

"Haven't you destroyed my life enough?" Shinichi spat, anger evident in his voice.

Gin laughed. "Not nearly enough. Now, if you'll be so kind as to hand over Sherry, you'll be able to walk out of here free."

Shinichi shook his head, along with all the other boys including 'Kaito'. "No way you're getting her. We're leaving right now." He started to back up, not dumb enough to turn around and give them a clear shot at his back.

"I thought we might have this problem," Vermouth sighed, startling them. "So I made a back up plan." She raised her hand and men in black jackets seemed to appear out of the shadows. "Hand over Sherry. That is all we wanted."

"Her only? No way. You want all of us," Shinichi spat. "I don't think you're going to get anyone." He put a protective arm around Ran, while Heiji and Hakuba did the same for Kazuha and Akako. 'Shiho', instead, stood protectively in front of Aoko and 'Kaito'.

"My, my, Cool Guy. Are you going to take all of us on? By yourselves?" Vermouth laughed at the teenagers.

"If we have to, yes," Heiji shot back. He didn't like the prospect of Kazuha potentially getting hurt, but there was nothing he could do about it now. All he could do now was try to protect her.

She motioned again, and the black operatives pulled weapons out of their jackets. "Now hand her over before someone gets hurt. If you don't they might just accidentally fire and hit one of the girls. Now you wouldn't want that, would you?" She raised her hand, as if ready to signal again.

"WAIT!" 'Shiho' shouted out, hanging 'her' head. "I can't let you die for me. I'll go with them."

The others were surprised at Kaito's sudden outburst. "Why Miyano-kun?" Shinichi asked.

'Shiho' walked over to Shinichi and hugged him, surprising the detective very much. "Shinichi, I have a plan," Kaito told him quietly, so only he could hear. "I'll go with them and, when they're backs are turned, you attack them. I'll create mass confusion before hand. That'll be your clue."

Shinichi nodded. "Be careful." He put his arm around 'Shiho' to help play the idea of her leaving for good.

Kaito pulled out of the embrace and quietly, with his head down, walked towards Vermouth.

"NO! WAIT!" Aoko shouted out. "H…SHE CAN'T GO!"

"Nakamori-san," Shinichi spoke. "Please let her go." Shinichi walked over to Aoko and spoke softly in her ear. "We'll get him back, I promise. This is part of his plan."

Aoko nodded and quieted down.

Heiji approached Shinichi. "What's happening Kudo?" he asked somewhat quiet, letting the other teenagers hear, but not their enemy.

Shinichi sighed. "Kaito's going to distract them. When he does, be ready to attack." Everyone nodded in agreement.

'Shiho' reached where Gin and Vermouth were standing. "Finally," Gin said as he grabbed 'Shiho's' arm. "We have her."

'Shiho' squeaked and sank to the floor. "Let…Let them go," Kaito pleaded, using Shiho's voice.

Gin laughed. "Did you really think we were going to do that?"

"Now that we have Sherry, you detectives die," Vermouth smirked as she held her arm up.

"That's what you think," Kaito said, finally using his own voice.

"WHAT?" Gin shouted as Kaito rose from the ground. "WHAT IS THIS?"

"The trick's on you," Kaito continued, pulling smoke bombs out of seemingly nowhere. He tossed some at the Black Operatives standing next to the teenagers, and threw the rest at Gin, Vodka, and Vermouth

"WHAT?" Vermouth shouted as she started coughing from the smoke. "Who are you?"

"Someone you don't want to mess with," Kaito replied, changing his voice to the one he used as Kaitou Kid. "Someone you'll wish you never messed with."

"VERMOUTH!" Shinichi hollered as he ran forward with Heiji right on his tail.

Vermouth turned around and collided with the running detective. When Vodka and Gin turned to help their boss, Heiji collided with the two and pulled them away.

Kazuha, Ran, Aoko, Akako, and Hakuba along with a non-responsive Shiho had other problems. The smoke had moved away and standing around them were the Black Operatives, guns pointed at their hearts.

Kaito noticed this, and so decided to help. Being the thief that he is, he decided that the operative's had had their guns long enough and so he arranged for them to have less lethal means of attack. Everyone noticed the look of confusion on the operatives' faces when their guns suddenly turned into bananas. Using this diversion, the rest of the teenagers attacked the agents and Kaito, noticing that Heiji was facing two, decided to help him. After all, two against one just wasn't fair enough.

Mass confusion followed as everyone fought everyone else.

------------

_BANG!_

Shinichi dodged the bullet that Vermouth had aimed at him, sending him sprawling behind some trashcans.

"You can't hide from me for long." Vermouth told him as she reloaded her gun.

She had already shot two clips, and Shinichi was lucky to only have one bullet graze his arm so far. It wasn't hurting very badly right now but Shinichi figured that it was due to the adrenaline running through his body.

"I don't need to hide forever. When you run out of bullets, I'll defeat you," Shinichi shouted from where he hid, his voice having a lot more confidence that he felt. "You can't fire forever."

"No, but I don't need to," she told him. "Just long enough for someone else to do the dirty work. Which one would you like? Gin or Vodka?"

"How about neither. I'd like to stay alive. After all, I did just get back." Shinichi knew he was stalling, but there was nothing else to do that he could think of. Not until someone else came to help him. Shinichi made a silent prayer that Ran would be all right and would somehow survive.

"You know, people would think you've lost your nerve."

Shinichi laughed. "There's a difference between having nerve and being just completely stupid."

"You know," a new voice said from above them, "many people say I've crossed that line too many times." Shinichi looked up and saw Kaito perched on a ledge above him. "Personally, I think I do backflips on it."

Vermouth just grinned. "So, you've left your friend to the mercy of Gin and Vodka? They're not very forgiving people."

Kaito laughed. "Vodka's down for the count and Gin is no where to be found. I think that he turned turkey and ran." Kaito jumped down and landed next to Vermouth. "I'll take that, if you don't mind. You might actually hurt someone." He wrenched the gun out of her hands and it vanished somewhere inside his jacket.

Vermouth laughed again. "Gin doesn't run. He's most likely just hiding somewhere, waiting to take out your friends. After all, that's what he's paid to do."

"We'll see about that," Shinichi said as he got up and walked over to stand next to Kaito.

"Bring it on."

------------

Heiji looked around the room. After finally knocking Vodka out, Kaito had told him to stay here and that he was going to find Kudo. _Well, nothing exciting is happening right now, so I might as well sit down, _he thought to himself as he turned around and noticed the gun leveled at his chest. A small 'erp' escaped his throat when he recognized the owner. It was Gin.

"_Abaiyo tantei-san,_" Gin smirked as he squeezed the trigger. Heiji jerked quickly to the side, hoping to move out of the line of fire.

BANG!

Heiji felt himself spin around and land on the hard, cold cement floor. He could feel the blood flowing out of him and staining his shirt. The world started to grow dark as he slipped from consciousness. Only one thing echoed through his mind as the darkness claimed him.

_Kazuha…_


	7. Gone Forever?

Afterlife

Disclaimer: To Own or not to Own? That is the Question. Unfortunately for most of us, there is no question. It's not to own. (Like me.)

Chapter 7 - Gone Forever?

Shinichi looked at Kaito. "On three, we charge her," he told the thief. Kaito nodded.

"One…two…three…" They both charged at Vermouth who, for once, was stunned as she saw two almost identical, determined teenagers coming at her from the same direction.

**"_Abaiyo tantei-san,_" Gin smirked as he squeezed the trigger. Heiji jerked quickly to the side, hoping to move out of the line of fire.**

****

BANG!

**Heiji felt himself spin around and land on the hard, cold cement floor. He could feel the blood flowing out of him and staining his shirt. The world started to grow dark as he slipped from consciousness. He mind echoed only one thing as the darkness claimed him.**

****

Kazuha…

Shinichi stopped abruptly, his left shoulder suddenly blossoming with pain.

Kaito slowed, stopped and looked back at the detective questioningly. "Shinichi? What's wrong?"

"Something's happened to Heiji," Shinichi whispered in quiet shock. He turned around and started running away from Vermouth. "Take care of her," he shouted back at Kaito. Both the thief and the agent were stunned as to what had happened to make the detective ignore Vermouth.

_I've got to hurry! _Shinichi thought in panic as he raced down the corridor. _Otherwise, Heiji might not survive!_ His shoulder still hurt him, but the adrenaline made the pain into a dull ache. He couldn't explain it, but he knew that if his shoulder still hurt, Heiji was still alive. If he ever stopped feeling the pain… _No, I don't want to follow that train of thought!_ Shinichi yelled at himself bitterly.

For some reason, he could feel himself being tugged down a side corridor, and into another room. He entered at a full sprint and stopped dead in his tracks. In front of him, Gin was holding a smoking gun while Heiji lay on the ground in pool of blood, not moving.

"HEIJI!" Shinichi shouted, taking off at a run straight for the gunman.

Gin turned around and was once again met with a running detective. Shinichi saw the rare expression of surprise on Gin's face as he grabbed a hold of the killer, letting his momentum take them away from the injured Osakajin. Once they'd landed, Shinichi immediately got up and kicked the gun out of the older man's hand.

"You'll pay for what you did!" Shinichi shouted.

In response, Gin grabbed Shinichi's legs, toppling him over. Shinichi rolled and when he sat up, he found himself staring down the barrel of another gun from a few feet away.

"This ends now. Abaiyo tantei-san," Gin said with a smirk.

Shinichi shut his eyes, knowing he couldn't move in time to take the gun or get out of the way. Gin's finger tightened on the trigger.

_Click_

_I'm sorry Ran!_ Shinichi thought as he waited for the noise and the pain of the bullet ripping through his body. It never came.

Opening his eyes, Shinichi was treated to the even rarer sight of a confused Gin. A quick glance at the gun gave him the source of the confusion. Sticking out of the barrel was a pole with a flag. It read, _BANG!_ Shinichi started laughing so hard his sides hurt, the relief he felt from almost dying fueling the laughter.

"KAITO!" he managed to shout out between fits of laughter, "You're going to give me a heart attack!"

"Actually," he heard Kaito respond. "That was to give him a heart attack. Now, for my finale…" Shinichi saw Kaito jump down, steal the gun from the confused operative's hand, kick Gin between the legs and proceed to beat the living daylights out of him. When he was finished, Gin lay unmoving on the ground where he had been moaning only a few seconds earlier.

"I think that about does it," Kaito said with a smile, wiping his hands together. "Now, how's Hattori-kun?" He quickly walked over to where Heiji lay.

Shinichi walked over and bent down to check his friend. "He's alive, but I don't think he'll last for long. Can you do anything?"

"Let me see…" Kaito gently turned the unconscious detective over. "The wound's in his shoulder. If we can get it to stop bleeding, he might survive a trip to the hospital."

Shinichi nodded, ripped his own shirt for bandages and handed them over to Kaito. Kaito proceeded to wrap them tightly around the detective's shoulder, being careful not to disturb the already clotting blood. After a few moments, Kaito tied off the last remaining bandage.

Shinichi then pulled out his portable intercom. "Nakamori-keibu, we need an ambulance at the warehouse now! Hattori's been shot and may not survive long."

"Alright, one will be there in a few moments. Have him outside waiting," the inspector's voice came back over the intercom.

Shinichi nodded again, put the intercom away, helped Kaito lift Heiji and proceeded to run towards the exit.

------------

Aoko dodged the fist coming towards her head and when the arm and side followed it, she turned around, giving the agent a nice knee in the stomach. He fell, clutching his sore abdomen. Aoko put her arms down and took a breather for a second before gearing up to attack some more. During this time, another agent decided to have some fun with her. Before she knew he was there, the agent had his hands around her stomach, squeezing her breath out.

"You know, it's not nice to attack a lady," Hakuba's voice came from behind both of them. The pressure suddenly lessened and she pulled herself out of the offending grasp. Turning around, she saw Hakuba standing over the crumpled operative with a metal bar in his hands. "Be glad you are unconscious. I don't think you would have enjoyed her retaliation," Hakuba retorted as he turned around and went back into the fray.

Aoko, too, entered into the mist of the battle; attacking another agent that was trying to remove Kazuha from the game. She deflected a blow aimed at her side and returned with an upper cut to the jaw.

"Thanks, Aoko-chan," Kazuha told her as they both readied to knock out yet another agent. "Nice upper cut, by the way."

"Thanks," Aoko said as she once again launched herself at a Black Operative.

Ran, who had just knocked out her opponent, watched as Kazuha and Aoko teamed up to knock out another one. She smiled at them and returned to find another agent stupid enough to underestimate her. It didn't take her long.

"You're such a weak girl. I'll use you as a hostage," the agent said as he faced her, ready to battle.

"You might want to take back those words after I'm done with you," she retorted, ready to attack.

"We'll see."

And see he did. When she was done, he had 2 black eyes, a bloody nose, many bruises, and a very sore spot between the legs. All in under seven seconds. (She'd secretly been taking lessons from Heiji.)

"That will teach you to underestimate me," Ran told the agent just before he lost consciousness.

She walked over to Akako, who was having fun by directing different objects to attack her enemies. Ran watched as a deformed wheel started chasing after one operative, sending him all over the battle trying to get away from the possessed object. Ran could barely hold in her laughter at the sight of a grown and dangerous man just running from a small wheel.

"I think that I'm getting good at this type of entertainment," Akako commented with a smile as she sent a shovel after a different agent.

This agent, it seemed, was smarter. He ducked, let the object pass over his head and grabbed the handle. Ran didn't think he expected what happened next. Instead of pulling him along, it turned right back at him, making him let go and start running, shouting, 'AAAAAHHHHHHH!'

Ran turned away, for fear that watching would make her laugh so hard that she'd be unable to defend herself. She soon found another opponent that was giving Shiho a hard time.

"You're supposed to be a man," the agent was laughing while not so gently pulling Shiho's hair. "And yet, you're letting the girls fight your battles. You're so weak."

"HEY!" Ran shouted, getting his attention. "You leave her alone." _OPPS!_ Ran silently cursed herself. _I shouldn't have said that._

"'Her'?" The agent was bewildered. "Wait a minute, if the Kaitou Kid was Sherry, then that must mean…that Sherry's Kaitou Kid!" He pulled on Shiho's arm. "Hey, boss. I found Sherry!" he shouted in the direction Vermouth and Shinichi had once been.

"I don't think they'll hear you," Ran said, striding forward.

"That doesn't matter." He let go of Shiho. Instead of running away like Ran had expected, Shiho stood up and walked behind the agent, picking something off of the floor.

As she watched the agent pull out a gun, Ran knew that he was too far away for her to disarm him without a chance of getting hurt, so she kept him talking. "Why do you want her?"

"It don't matter. Say good-bye."

Ran wanted to close her eyes, but her fear had other ideas. She watched in shock as his finger started to squeeze the trigger.

BONK!

The operative suddenly went limp and fell down, landing next to a surprisingly calm Shiho holding another metal bar.

"Good-bye," Shiho told him. She then looked at Ran. "I couldn't let them hurt you guys anymore. I had to act. After all, you'd do the same for me."

Ran smiled. "Thanks Shiho-chan."

Shiho was surprised with Ran. "Mouri-san?"

Ran shook her head. "Please, call me Ran-chan. If not for you, then I'd never have Shinichi back. I'd also not be alive right now. I'd like to call you my friend."

Shiho smiled back. "I'd like that."

They both rejoined the fight, giving their all. It took a while, but slowly and surely, the teenagers beat back the agents until there was only 2 left.

"Surrender, or I'll have to hurt you," Hakuba told them, holding a metal bar ready to throw at them.

The agents just laughed. "Do you expect us to give into you that easy?" one operative said, laughing. "We planted a bomb in this warehouse just in case. It is set to go off in another 5 minutes. Find it if you can. Either way, we'll kill you."

A small 'eep' sounded through the silence and everyone looked at Akako, who was visibly paling. "They're not lying," she said in shock. "They plan to kill us, even though it means taking themselves along with us."

Hakuba snarled. _HOW DARE THEY PLAY THIS LOW! IT WOULDN'T MATTER AS MUCH IF THE GIRLS WEREN'T HERE._ Hakuba chucked his pipe as hard as he could right at the agents' heads. It connected with a loud 'THUMP' and both sank to the floor, knocked unconscious.

"Koizumi-chan, you and the others get out of here right now! Leave, I'll find the bomb," he forcefully told the girls. All of them shook their heads.

"THIS IS NO TIME TO ARGUE. GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!" Hakuba shouted at them.

"Saguru-kun…" Akako started but Aoko cut her off. "Come on, Koizumi-chan. Let's leave him to his work. Take care of yourself Hakuba-kun," she told the British Detective before she turned and pushed all the girls out the door.

"Take care of Koizumi-chan, Nakamori-chan," Hakuba quietly told Aoko, turning around and heading deeper into the warehouse.

---------------

The bomb sat on the ground, its timer slowly ticking off. 4_m 25s…4m 24s…4m 23s…_It continued to count down the seconds until the warehouse would burst into a flame, killing all who were inside.

---------------

Aoko continued to push Akako, who seemed to be in shock. Never in Akako's entire life had a boy, who was not under her control, sacrificed himself for her well being. Akako felt very sick and scared for Hakuba. Was this love? She never had felt this way about anyone before. She almost wondered if she could stand the pain if Hakuba didn't make it out of this one alive. _NO! I definitely don't want to think about that possibility, _she told her self stubbornly. _Saguru-kun will make it out of this one alive. He has to._

Aoko watched as the emotions played across her friend's face. She understood what Akako was feeling, for she had felt the same way about Kaito a lot. She put her arm around Akako, giving her a hug to let her know that she'd always be there for her.

Akako smiled, returning Aoko's hug. "Thank you."

Aoko smiled back. "Your welcome."

Walking side by side, the 5 girls exited the warehouse. What they found outside surprised all of them. Police cars were everywhere. Some were talking to one another, some answering calls on their com systems, and some were just simply waiting for the time to act.

On one side of the warehouse, an ambulance had its door open, loading someone on a stretcher, someone who was very familiar.

"HEIJI!" Kazuha shouted, running over to him. Two paramedics intercepted her, holding her back a few feet from the detective. Tears started to form in her eyes as she looked at the broken and bruised body of her friend.

_He looks so tired and sore lying there, _Ran thought as she watched her friend. _It almost looks as though he might be dead._ Ran didn't want to think that it was true, but it still was a possibility. Because of her father's and boyfriend's jobs, she could accept death a little easier than Kazuha.

"Miss," one of the paramedics said, trying to reason with Kazuha. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you past this point."

"NO! HEIJI!" Kazuha continued to shout, tears fall down her face. She struggled against the two men that were holding back from reaching her best friend's side.

"Let her go," someone else said, but Kazuha didn't care. The only thing she thought about was reaching her friend. The paramedics released her and she ran the rest of the way to Heiji's side.

"Heiji, please don't…don't…" she couldn't finish what she wanted to say. She just collapsed on the edge of his stretcher, crying hard. _He can't die! He can't!_ She stubbornly told herself. _He'll live through this. He always has before._ Kazuha jumped slightly as she felt an arm reach around her shoulder, pulling her away from Heiji. She tried to shrug it off, but it refused to leave her alone.

"Kazuha-chan," Ran's voice came from behind her. "Please, let them take care of Hattori-kun."

"NO!" Kazuha shouted again. "THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Kazuha knew what she was saying wasn't very true, but right now she didn't care. "I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN HEAL HIM!"

Ran held onto Kazuha even harder. Despite all of her struggling, Kazuha eventually gave up and buried herself into Ran, her sobs louder than ever. "He can't…he can't go," Kazuha managed to speak between the tears. "I…need him." Ran hugged Kazuha even more, herself close to tears because of her friend's pain.

"Ran." Ran turned around at the sound of her name. Behind her were Shinichi and Kaito. Both looked worn out and a little dirty, but they were otherwise unharmed.

"Shinichi," Ran said, hardly believing that he was here and safe.

"Ran, let Toyama-chan go with Hattori to the hospital. In fact, I'd like for all you to go with him," Shinichi told her, refraining from moving closer to her.

"Why?" Ran asked, not for sure why he was doing this.

"Kaito and I will take down the rest of the Black Ops. You've done a great job, I thank you for your help. The rest is between them, Kaito and I."

"Kudo-kun," Shiho interjected. "They have a bomb in there that is set to go off in the next 5 minutes. If it does, no one inside will survive. Hakuba's already in there looking for it."

Shinichi nodded. "Sounds like something Vermouth would pull. All of you get out of here." He didn't know why Shiho wasn't scared out of her mind like before, but he was glad she wasn't. It made their work a lot easier.

He turned back to Kaito, who as hugging Aoko. She had tears in her eyes and Shinichi guessed that it was because she didn't want Kaito returning to the warehouse where he might be hurt or worse. Shinichi continued to watch as Kaito pulled out of her embrace, put his hand on her cheek and spoke softly. He was quiet enough that Shinichi couldn't hear what he said. Aoko nodded and walked back over to Ran.

Kaito walked back over to where Shinichi was waiting for him. "You ready to go?" he asked the famous detective.

Shinichi nodded and they took off back into the warehouse.

---------------

The bomb continued to count down. 2_m 24s…2m 23s…2m 22s…_Time was running out for the teenagers.

---------------

"I take it you heard about the bomb," Shinichi asked the thief as they ran through the warehouse.

"Yeah, Aoko told me. We should concentrate on stopping the bomb first. Then, we can deal with the rest of the Black Operatives," Kaito told him, turning down one of the hallways. "My guess is that it's in the basement. Somewhere near a vital part of the structural integrity or like a boiler."

"I agree. Let's head down there. Hopefully, we'll met up with Hakuba-san somewhere down there."

They continued to race around the first floor, looking for the stairs down.

---------------

_1m 49s…1m 48s…1m 47s…_Time still counted down to the fateful moment.

---------------

Hakuba had found the stairs down. He'd been spending the last few minutes looking out for the bomb and trying to avoid the operatives. He suspected that anyone who was still in their right mind was gone, but he wasn't for sure. He didn't want to take any chances, so it was taking him a bit longer than if he didn't check for traps.

_Still have half of the basement to search,_ Hakuba thought to himself. _I have to hurry. Time is running out._

He pressed on, searching the next room quickly. He leapt over boxes, checking behind doors and in other less conspicuous areas. He didn't spend much time searching, for he knew that the bomb would have to be pretty big for it to destroy the warehouse, even if it did use a boiler as a jumpstart.

It wasn't in the room, so he proceeded on to the next one. It wasn't in that one either, and Hakuba started to get worried. _What if I don't find it in time?_ he thought to himself. He quickly berated himself for thinking that way. _I AM going to find it before the time runs out and be able to disarm it too._

---------------

_1m 10s…1m 9s…1m 8s…_The bomb counted down the time until it let loose a bonfire.

---------------

"Kaito," Shinichi spoke, breaking the silence that had been between them. "If we can't find the bomb in time or are not able to disarm it, I want you to get out of here. Take care of Ran for me, if it comes to that."

For once, Kaito didn't have a funny comeback. He simply nodded. "I understand, Shinichi. Though, Mouri-san most likely will hate you for leaving her again." Kaito spoke plainly and Shinichi knew it.

They entered another room, looking once again for the bomb. Just when they had been about to give up and search another room, Kaito heard a soft ticking noise. A noise…_that a bomb makes!_ Kaito could have shouted for joy. He quickly ran to where he heard the sound coming from, ignoring the surprise from the detective.

There, in a small cove, was the bomb. It wasn't too big of one, but it was planted right on the biggest beam of the structure. If it went off, Kaito supposed, the entire building would collapse.

"Did you find it?" Kaito heard Shinichi ask.

Kaito nodded. "You'll have to disarm it. I have no skills in that field."

"Alright. You get out of here. That way, incase if I don't make it, someone will be there for Ran."

Kaito nodded again and moved out of the way. "Take care of yourself, Shinichi."

"You too."

Kaito ran back out of the room, heading back to the first floor and back to the girls. _Make sure that you comeback Shinichi. If Mouri-san loses you, I think it will be the last straw. She'll just collapse on herself, never to come out again. She even might think about suicide. You must survive this one._

Shinichi watched the bomb as the time continued to tick down. _0m 49s…0m 48s…0m 47s…_He pulled it off of the wall slowly, so as not to disturb any wires that might be connected to the beam. He almost smiled when there was none. _Good. The easiest part is done. Now for the harder one._ He opened the front of the bomb very carefully, checking for any sort of trip wire that would explode the bomb prematurely. He found it and quickly rendered it unusable.

0m 36s…0m 35s…0m 34s…

Shinichi could feel sweat come down his forehead as he continued to work on the bomb. He was glad when he recognized the configuration as one similar to a bomb that he'd previously helped Ran disarm successfully. _Not that we'd be here if I hadn't done it right._

"Kudo-san!" A voice sounded from behind him, almost making him mess up as he was picking a wire to cut. He quickly turned around.

Hakuba ran up to stand beside him. "I see that you've found the bomb."

"Yeah, but I'm having trouble with disarming it a little bit. It's similar one I did awhile ago, but it's different enough that I'm not for sure if I'm doing it correct. Please feel free to offer any suggestions."

Hakuba looked at the time remaining. _0m 24s…0m 23s…0m 22…_"Um, Kudo-san, you'd better hurry up."

Shinichi shook his head. "Get out of here. I don't think that I can disarm it in time." He put down the bomb for a few precious seconds and pushed Hakuba towards the door. "GO!" Hakuba took his initiative and ran back out the door.

Shinichi returned to the bomb and continued where he'd left off. Hesoon was left with three wires. Clip the wrong one and the bomb would explode immediately.

_0m 9s…0m 8s…0m 7s…_

_God, let me make it out of here alive! _Shinichi silently prayed as he picked a wire and put it between the blades of the scissors he was using.

0m 4s…0m 3s…0m 2s…

He took a deep breath, reading himself for whatever happened next.

SNIP!

I'm sorry, Ran!

The scissors cut the wire…


	8. Repercussions

Afterlife

Disclaimer: Who ever says I can own Detective Conan please say 'I'? _Silence_ Come on! _Silence _Please?_ More silence _Darn it! And I so wanted to own it. (I don't own "The Reason", because it's by Hoobastank.)

Chapter 8 - Repercussions

Kazuha stared out of the window, watching the birds that flew by. Her best friend, Hattori Heiji, lay unconscious on the bed next to her. She'd been waiting with him ever since he'd come into the hospital a few minutes ago. Because his bullet wound was not life threatening, the doctors were waiting until he awoke before taking it out.

**_0m 9s…0m 8s…0m 7s…_**

**_I'm sorry, Ran! _Shinichi silently prayed as he picked a wire and put it between the blades of the scissors he was using.**

"KUDO!"

Kazuha whipped around, accidentally slapping Heiji across the face, who had sat up. He fell back on to the bed, bringing his left hand to his face. His right arm and shoulder hurt too much to move.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for?" Heiji asked, his voice muffled by his hand.

"Oh, Heiji! I'm sorry. I so sorry," Kazuha cried out as she hugged Heiji. "I was so worried about you and then you startled me." She would've said more, but her tears were choking any words that might have made it out of her throat.

Heiji lowered his hand and wrapped them around Kazuha's trembling form. As he held her, his mind pondered the reason why he woke up the way he did. All he could remember was a feeling of dread about something happening to Shinichi.

****

0m 4s…0m 3s…0m 2s…

He took a deep breath, reading himself for whatever happened next.

SNIP!

I'm sorry Ran!

The scissors cut the wire…

Suddenly, the feeling came back, making Heiji wince once again. This time, though, it was not as bad as the first one he experienced only moments ago. It confused him. Why was he so uneasy? Hadn't Shinichi and Kaito already taken care of Vermouth and Gin? Gin…Heiji remembered what happened. Gin…holding a gun to his chest. Gin smirking. Him trying to jump out of the way as Gin pulled the trigger. The world spinning as darkness crept in on his senses and finally blacking out. And then…what'd happened after that?

Heiji looked down once again at Kazuha and noticed she'd calmed down, but was still hugging him. He also noticed her head was a little too close to his wound for comfort.

"Kazuha," Heiji asked tentatively, "I don't want to sound rude, but could you please move your head? It's a little too close to my wound."

He watched as she lifted her head at looked at him. He could see the unshed tears in her eyes as she smiled at him.

"Sorry 'bout that," Kazuha mumbled as she relayed her head on his other shoulder, still refusing to let go.

"It's okay," Heiji told her. "Where are the others?"

"Well, Koizumi-chan, Miyano-chan, Ran-chan and Nakamori-chan are here at the hospital. They came along when the ambulance took you away. Kudo-kun and Kuroba-kun both went back into the warehouse because of a bomb."

"A BOMB?" Heiji shouted, startling Kazuha. "Why'd they do something as stupid as that?"

"Because Hakuba-kun was already searching for it," Kazuha told him quietly. "He was trying to find the bomb while shooing everyone else out of the warehouse. I haven't seen Koizumi-chan act like she did when he left. It was like a part of her was missing."

Heiji knew a little bit about Koizumi Akako from dealing with Kuroba Kaito. When he first heard her called a witch, he had thought it to be a joke. Now, he realized it was very close to the truth. Akako did act like a modern day witch.

Kazuha's eyes teared up again, thinking about how her friend acted. "She just kept repeating the same thing over and over again: 'Why?' I think Hakuba's act of possibly sacrificing himself for her well-being caught her off guard."

Heiji could second that. From what Kaito and Shinichi had told him, the only way she knew to get guys to like her was to put them under a spell. She'd done that to her high school class, but Kaito and Hakuba seemed immune to the spell. So, Hakuba's action would be something new to her…something that would definitely startle her.

Thinking back over the past few days, Heiji came to a startling discovery. Even though he was not under her spell, Hakuba Saguru still had looked after her. When the girls had been attacked and Ran kidnapped, the first thing Hakuba did was check on Akako. Now, putting two and two together (and ending up somewhere near 42), Heiji realized Hakuba had to have feelings for Akako, just like he had for Kazuha, not that he'd tell _her_ that. Nope, no way. Never…

"Heiji…"

Heiji looked down into Kazuha's eyes, seeing the tear stained cheeks. To him, she'd never looked more beautiful, though. The way her eyes were lighting up, it made him feel like a king. Her smile could make him believe could take the whole BO on and bring them all to justice.

"Heiji…I'm not…good with…this kind of…thing…but," Kazuha stammered, her breath catching in her throat. _NO, DAMN IT! I need to tell him. I waited 'til it was almost too late. I can't take the chance of it happening again. Not before he knows how I feel…Oh, man! Why didn't they mention how difficult it was in all those romance mangas?_ Kazuha thought as she felt a blush forming.

"Heiji…" Kazuha was crying now. It wasn't tears of anger or hurt. Instead, she was frustrated. Frustrated with herself, with her feelings, with her fears, with the Organization that almost took away her Heiji…_ Wait a minute? Since when was he **my** Heiji? I know I like him, but when did I get so possessive?_ A small voice answered her. **_Since you almost lost him. Since he almost left you alone for good. Since I started acknowledging my own feelings. _**Kazuha agreed.

"Kazuha?" Heiji asked bewildered. What could cause the strong spirited girl he knew and loved to be reduced into the broken down, crying, quivering girl in his embrace? "What's wrong?"

Heiji's question just seemed to make it worse for Kazuha as she broke into sobs, clutching to Heiji as tight as she could. "Heiji…almost…lost…you" Kazuha managed to say between sobs. She wasn't for sure what exactly she was saying, instead relying on her heart to provide her mouth with the correct words. "Don't…ever…want to…come…that close…again…" Kazuha broke off as her tears overcame her speech, making it impossible for her to continue.

Luckily, she had laid enough clues out for the detective to piece together. After spending a few minutes listening to Kazuha's sobs while holding her, and going over all she had said, Heiji arrived at what he thought to be the correct answer: Kazuha was worried about him.

For some reason, this brought a small comfort to the detective. He didn't exactly know why he liked the idea of Kazuha worrying about him, but he didn't dispute that it made him feel better. And right now, he wasn't going to turn away anything that made him slowly forget about his injury, which, even with the pain medicine he was sure the doctors had given him, was still bothering him.

"Kazuha," Heiji looked down at the brown-haired girl as her cries trailed off once again. "…thank you for your concern…" He wasn't for sure what to say, but in his situation, that sounded like the best option.

Kazuha smiled back at the young boy, her eyes still filled with unshed tears. "You're welcome, aho." Both of them had a good laugh her remark. For some reason she could not explain, possible because of how close she'd come to loosing him, Kazuha felt the need to increase the level of their relationship. Not understanding where she got the courage to do so, she moved her body up a little bit and lightly kissed Heiji on the lips.

When she moved back down, she wished she could've had a camera. The look on Heiji's face was priceless. The mix between shock, surprise, happiness, and something that could only be described as love and lust made his face seem to glow in the aftermath. She watched in amazement as he used his good arm to bring her head close again, with her help, while bringing his down the best he could, for another kiss. This one, though, was not the light, butterfly type. Instead, it was one of the searing, heart-stopping, most-wonderful-thing-possible kisses she'd read about in her manga. Of course, her mind wasn't on that as she responded to Heiji's kiss.

Soon, much to Heiji's surprise, Kazuha deepened the kiss, bringing a whole new lot of emotions to the forefront. As the kiss continued, he could almost taste her love/lust and her need for the kiss to continue. He wasn't going to object as the girl of his dreams held on to him, still lip-locked with him.

"Well, I can see Heiji-kun is awake."

Both teenagers sprang apart, Kazuha falling off the bed and Heiji banging his head against the rail. As the momentary dizziness subsided, Heiji turned toward the door to see who'd interrupted them. Standing there with a smile on her face was none other than Mouri Ran.

"You know, if you want to continue exploring Heiji-kun's mouth, I can leave, Kazuha-chan." Ran giggled at the matching red faces as Kazuha picked herself up off of the floor.

_Ah, man. Why did she have to pick at that moment to let herself be known? If she could've been a few minutes later…_Heiji's thought trailed off as he imagined what might have happened if they had continued the kiss.

"Wha…what's up, Ran-chan?" Kazuha asked as she tried to change to a topic that didn't leave her face hot enough to fry eggs.

"Oh, not much," Ran said, still giggling at the two Osakan's expressions. "Just wanted to check up on Heiji-kun. I can see you have it all under control, Kazuha-chan, so I'll leave you two alone." Ran turned around and walked out of the room. The two stunned teenagers could hear her laughter as she moved down the hall and back to the waiting room.

"What just happened?" Heiji asked timidly.

"I'm not completely sure myself," Kazuha replied, her eyes wide open.

------------

"How's Hattori-san?" Aoko asked as soon as Ran appeared in her view.

"Oh, I don't think that he's going to have any problem," she said with a smile.

"Why do you say that?" Akako asked.

"For one, he was totally making out with Kazuha-chan."

Everyone of the girls' jaw dropped. "No way…" Shiho managed to croak out after a few seconds.

"Yep," Ran stated happily and somewhat maniacally. "I even walked in on them."

"Took them long enough," Akako stated and turned her head to look away. She recovered quickly from her shock.

"And what about you and Hakuba-san?" Ran asked not quite innocently.

Akako's head snapped around. "W…what?" she stuttered.

"Oh, you know. Your relationship with Hakuba-san. You're a little too close for just friends," Ran spoke, continuing her tirade of gossip. It was a nice source of amusement that kept her mind off of what possible was happening to Shinichi.

"I...I don't know what your talking about," Akako managed to stammer out, her voice betraying the calm her face was trying to portray.

"Sure..."

"And you're one to talk. What about you and Kudo-san?"

"What about us? He admitted that he loves me and I love him."

Everyone continued to stare in shock at the young woman before them. Since when did she change from being a small girl who was afraid of showing her feelings to the fiery and determined woman before them.

"Well, at least I can't be picked on," Aoko stated somewhat defiantly.

All three of the other girls looked at her like she was crazy. "You and Kaito?" Akako asked.

"Just brother and sister-like relationship," Aoko shot back, trying to act like it was nothing. She didn't fool the others.

"Uh huh…and the hurt you felt when you found out that Kaito was Kaitou Kid…"

"…"

"I thought so. You like him, even though you don't want to admit it."

"Since when did this become a bash on Aoko session?"

"Since you thought you could get away without being brought into the slander," Ran inputted.

Aoko just stuck her nose in the air, much to the amusement of her friends. Truth be told, though, they had hit the nail on the head. For the past few months, she knew that her relationship with Kaito had been changing, but it wasn't until she'd learned his secret that she'd realized how much she did care for the lost phantom thief. Of course, it'd take him two crowbars, a stick of dynamite, and several tons of TNT to get it out of her.

_What Shinichi is doing right now?_ Ran wondered as she tuned out her friends' laughter at Aoko's reactions.

------------

Kuroba Kaito waited…and waited…and waited some more. But, for as long as he waited, the earth shattering Kaboom he was expecting never sounded. _Okay, this is weird. It's been over 4 minutes and 33 seconds since Kudo and I split up and the bomb still hasn't gone off. I'm sure we found out about the bomb a few minutes after the five minutes countdown started. Did Kudo manage to disarm the bomb in time?_ As he continued to ponder the situation, he noticed someone had come out of the building.

Quickly rushing down to meet him, Kaito noticed the person was too short to be Shinichi. It was Hakuba Saguru. As Kaito ran up to meet him, Hakuba raised his head. The dark and serious expression, more than usual, made Kaito's heart almost stop.

"Hakuba…Kudo-kun?" Kaito was almost too afraid to ask, to find out what happened to the missing detective.

"I don't know." Hakuba responded, his voice cold and tired, almost as if he witnessed a friend dying. "He's still in there, trying to defuse the bomb."

"Why did you leave him!" Kaito half shouted at the British boy. He was angry with Hakuba for leaving Shinichi, angry at Shinichi for possibly dying once again, so soon after the last time. But, most of all, he was angry at himself for not being able to do anything to help his friend.

"I had no choice!" Hakuba shouted back, his nerves frayed. He hadn't wanted to leave, especially if he had to tell Ran the bad news: that Shinichi didn't make it again. He was sure that if Shinichi was once again dead, it would send her over the edge. He wasn't for sure, but she would most likely follow him into the next world, leaving more pain and hurt with everyone else.

_Alright, calm down boy,_ Kaito thought to himself. _It's been long enough that if the bomb would've gone of, it'd already done so. Now what do we do?_

"Hakuba, when you left Kudo, how much time was left?" Kaito asked.

"About 30 seconds. Why?"

"And how long ago was that?"

"1 minute, 12 seconds. Wh…wait a minute. If Kudo-san didn't defuse the bomb, it'd already gone off. So, that means…"

"That means Kudo-kun is still alive, somewhere in there," Kaito finished for him.

"Let's go. He's going to need our help if he runs into any of the Black Ops," Hakuba shouted over his shoulder as he turned around and ran back into the building, Kaito right on his tail.

------------

As he ran down the corridor, chasing an elusive Vermouth, Kudo Shinichi thought back to what'd happened immediately following his defusing of the bomb…or what he thought was the bomb…

****

0m 4s…0m 3s…0m 2s…

He took a deep breath, reading himself for whatever happened next.

SNIP!

I'm sorry, Ran!

The scissors cut the wire…and nothing happened. Shinichi sighed in relief as he put the scissors down on the ground and took a few minutes to calm himself down after another near death experience.

"So, you managed to stop my bomb, tantei-san," a voice sounded from the doorway. Shinichi immediately turned his head to see who it was, the scissors in his hand, ready to throw. It was none other than the one he was hunting: Vermouth. "Or, should I say, my decoy bomb?" she continued.

"Decoy bomb?" Shinichi shouted, not caring how it sounded.

"Yes, my decoy bomb. Did you think I'd actually take the chance of destroying myself, or you for that matter? It'd be no fun anymore if you died."

"What is your game, Vermouth?" Shinichi was getting angry. He hated being toyed with.

"Game? There is no game anymore, tantei-san. The game ended when you and your friends defeated most of my men. Now, you will join the other side, just like you should've in the first place." As she was speaking, she pulled a gun out from behind her and pointed it at the detective.

"Don't you think I've had enough guns pointed at me yet?" Shinichi stated, hoping to distract the operative in hopes of escaping.

"Not yet, for you're not dead. But, that will soon change. Abayo, tantei-san."

As she finished speaking, Shinichi threw the scissors to her right and dove in the other direction. He heard the bullets bouncing off just above where his head used to be. Thinking quickly, Shinichi picked up the dead bomb and readied it for chucking. He peaked around the corner to look for the agent and saw she was walking towards him. She was going slowly, checking every place. Shinichi's guess was because it was dark, she couldn't see exactly where he was, for her shots had taken out the circuit breakers which where once above his head.

As she turn a little bit to check behind a box a little in front of where he was hiding, Shinichi saw his opportunity: the hand holding the gun was facing him. Hoping his aim was not off, he chucked the bomb at her hand, knocking the gun out of her hand and way. Immediately, he took off at a full out sprint directly for her. He watched as she turned back and her eyes grew wide. She looked around, visibly panicking, for her gun. She saw it and started for it, but by that time, Shinichi had caught up and passed her, picking up the gun as he went by. He skidded to a halt and turned back to look at her, but she'd already turned around and was running away. He made sure the safety was on and shoved the gun into his pants pocket, taking off after the fleeing agent.

Shinichi could still see Vermouth ahead of him, heading out what he thought to be the back entrence, but he wasn't for sure. All he knew, was if she got out the door, he'd most likely not catch her today. Shinichi didn't want that. After the time she'd plagued his memories and nightmares since he'd become Conan, there was no way he was going to let this chance pass him by. As he pulled out the gun, something unexpected happened: Vermouth tripped and fell.

Taking his sudden fortune for all it was worth, Shinichi ran up to her and pointed the gun at her head, standing stiffly in front of his enemy. He spoke to her very clearly, "Don't move if you want to live." After all she'd done to ruin his life, he didn't particularily care if she forced him to fire. In fact, a part of him was pushing him to pull the trigger anyway, but he successfully pushed that part of him down, keeping in control.

Taking a deep breath, he looked her over. It was then he noticed what'd caused her to trip. Wrapped around her ankles several times was string. What made it interesting was that attached to each end was a small, plastic, white dove. The string itself was pink. This could only mean one thing: Kaito was here.

"Kaitou Kid, you can make yourself known now," Shinichi spoke, hoping he was close. Sure enough, Kaito stepped out of the shadows nearby. What he didn't expect was to see Hakuba follow him out of their 'hiding' spot.

"You can call him by his name: Kuroba Kaito. We already knew that," Vermouth grumpily told the teenagers.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at her comment. "Fine. Kaito, want to help out?"

"It'd be my pleasure," came the reply. Out of seemingly nowhere, Kaito pulled out a rag and placed it over Vermouth's nose and mouth. Soon, her body relaxed and she seemed to drift off to more pleasant places, most likely filled with playing games with her favorite detective and his angel.

"What'd you do?" Hakuba asked, a little concerned. True, Vermouth was a criminal, but she also was helpless person at that moment. He didn't like it when people took advantage of others.

"Now, Hakuba, you should know by now, I don't harm people unnecessarily. All that was was a rag soaked in a sleeping gas. She should be out for another couple of hours. Enough time for us to lock them up."

Shinichi sighed and lowered the gun. Inside, he was glad he didn't have to kill her. In all the years he'd been a detective, he'd never taken a life. True, sometime the criminal would take is own life or they couldn't find the criminal, but he was proud of the fact he'd never stooped to their level. He hoped he'd never have to, but he'd do it if it meant protecting that which he treasured and held dear.

"Come on, let's get her to the authorities. Then, we can come back for the others," Shinichi stated as he put the gun back in his pocket. The other boys nodded and proceeded to help.

Epilogue

A month since the day Heiji was shot, the Black Organization was gone from Japan. Luckily, the police had been able to capture all the agents who where in the building, including Gin, Vodka, and Vermouth. Using the information they gained from them, the combined efforts of the police, Kaitou Kid, Hakuba and Shinichi were able to finally bring the large syndicate down for good. Unfortunately, this time there was sadness mixed in with the joy, for the police force lost a few good members in the struggle.

Sato had tried to join the bust, but Takagi and Megure had convinced her to stay behind. She didn't forgive them for quite a while because Takagi had been seriously injured and was still in the hospital, though no longer in critical condition. He was on his way to a full recovery, for which Sato was grateful for. When he'd first woken up, she'd confessed her feeling and Takagi had reciprocated. They were now the most talked about couple in the police force, behind Hakuba and Akako, Heiji and Kazuha, and Ran and Shinichi.

When she'd first seen him after the fight with Vermouth had ended, Akako had thrown her arms around Hakuba's neck, hugging him tightly. Once she'd realized what she was doing, the damage was already done, so she continued to hold onto him. Hakuba had put his arms around her waist and so after that day, he was teased constantly by Kaito until he officially asked Akako to be his girlfriend.

Shinichi and Ran met up again and continued on with their life, with Shinichi proposing to her the day after the final raid on the BO. She, of course, accepted immediately, and they had set the date for 5 months in the future, making it a spring wedding and giving Takagi time to recover enough to come. Shinichi had, fortunately, survived the second battle without much injury, much to Ran's relief. He was afraid that if he had been hurt like Takagi, Ran might have gone over the edge during the week when they weren't for sure if Takagi was going to make it or not.

Heiji had had his surgery, but wasn't recovered, much to his annoyance, enough to join the second battle. Unknown to him, though, was that even if he'd been well enough to go, Kazuha would've fought tooth and nail to keep him away. After she'd come so close to losing him, she'd started being more open with her feeling. Heiji, also, was being more open, so when he was able to walk around again, he'd asked her to be his girlfriend. They'd been growing closer every passing day and there was a bet running around in the force of when he'd propose. The most popular was Christmas eve, but for a reason no one could place, Shinichi had bet on sometime within a month from when the bet started a week and a half ago. Of course, unknown to everyone else, Heiji had been talking about it with Shinichi, so he had inside information.

Shiho had returned to being Haibara Ai, for two reasons: One, because there remained nothing of her former life. Her second reason was to help Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko with dealing with Conan's 'death' the previous month. She was partially afraid that 'Ai's disappearance might forever damage their lives when it was so close to another one of their friends death. So, instead, she stayed close to them, partially glad to have a chance to grow up once again. The first time around, she'd had almost no childhood and both the professor and Shinichi agreed this was good for her.

Kaito, for his part, didn't follow the other guys' path. When he came back, there seemed to be more of a distance between him and Aoko, and it seemed to grow everyday. Everyone was afraid the two wouldn't get together, but the teenage detectives weren't completely worried. They figured the two of them needed to discuss about Kaito being Kid, but neither seemed to want to approach that topic. Then, the last day of school before the break, Kaito announced he was leaving the next day for awhile. Sensing the possibility of never seeing him again, Aoko had sought him out the day before his departure to talk with him. She wanted to let him know she wanted him to stay…

"Kaito?"

The one voice he wanted to hear, and yet at the same time, didn't. Kaito squeezed his eyes shut, his mind going over multiple possibilities. "Aoko? What're you doing here? I thought you'd be with your dad."

I'm not a perfect person  
There's many things I wish I didn't do  
But I continue learning  
I never meant to do those things to you  
And so I have to say before I go  
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
A reason to start over new  
and the reason is you

"I can't let you go without talking with you. We both have things we need to discuss and running away won't help," Aoko replied, somewhat boldly. She knew if she wanted any chance for a better future with Kaito, she needed to get right to the point.

"What is there to discuss? I hurt you because of being Kid, even though now there is no reason for me to continue doing so. I'm leaving so you can continue on with your life. I don't know where I'm going or when, or even if, I'm coming back. It doesn't matter, though. I hope you have a better life without me there to disrupt it." It was killing him on the inside to tell her these things, things he'd been dwelling on since she'd found out about is alternate lifestyle. Even though he didn't want to do it, he figured going away was the best decision, even if it hurt a great deal.

I'm sorry that I hurt you  
It's something I must live with everyday  
And all the pain I put you through  
I wish that I could take it all away  
And be the one who catches all your tears  
That's why I need you to hear

I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
A reason to start over new  
and the reason is you

"Kaito? How is your leaving going to help me move on? Don't you realize you're the main reason I turned out how I did?"

"Yes, I'm the main reason you don't have a great life. I took away your dad from you when you needed him the most. My dad took your dad away as well. You were always complaining about how Kid never let you spend enough time with your father and how you hated Kid and wanted him locked up in jail. Why is it any different now you know Kid's identity? Just because I was your friend, does that change what I did? Is that any excuse for what I did? Tell me, Aoko. Is there any forgiveness possible for damaging your childhood like mine was?"

Aoko watched has he turned around to face her. Even though he had his poker face on, she could still see the hurt in his eyes. The hurt he felt because of his actions. True, when she'd first found out about him, she was very angry, but now she'd had time to think. Also, pain she'd started to feel as her and Kaito had drifted apart since the first battle was something she never wanted to feel again. She realized she didn't want him to disappear. She wanted to be with him for a long time, possibly forever; she wasn't for sure, but she did know, letting him leave would be the biggest mistake she could make.

_I'm not a perfect person  
I never meant to do those things to you  
And so I have to say before I go  
That I just want you to know_

_I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
A reason to start over new  
and the reason is you_

"Kaito," Aoko started, "we've both made mistakes in our past. I didn't know then the reason behind your heists. I didn't know it was so personal. I didn't know the group that was after you. I didn't know the danger you, and I for a while, was in. When you take all those into consideration, our actions were justified. True, you sometimes seemed to be a pain in the rear, but you were honorable with your heists."

"Honorable? What's so honorable about stealing?"

"You'd return what you'd steal. You tried to make sure no one was hurt. If the object couldn't be obtained without human damage, you didn't go for it. You made it a fair game. If that isn't honorable, then I don't know what is."

"How can you even accept me after all I've done?" A tone of desperation was evident in Kaito's voice. He wasn't for sure if he wanted the answer, but needed it just the same.

"Because you're my friend." Aoko's tone of voice left no room for arguments, not that Kaito would try.

"Just a friend? Is that all I've been to you? Just a friend?" Kaito needed this answer too, and he felt if he got the wrong one, he might still leave. Either that, or just fold in on himself. The past month had been getting to him and it was finally reaching his limit.

I've found a reason to show  
A side of me you didn't know  
A reason for all that I do  
And the reason is you

"No, not just a friend," Aoko spoke softly. "…maybe…maybe more, if you want to…"

Even though he wanted that answer, it still stunned him. "More? You want to be more? With me?"

Anger started to creep into Aoko's voice. "Yes! With you! I care for you, you baka!"

Kaito smiled. "Then, Nakamori Aoko, will you be my girlfriend?"

Aoko also smiled. "Alright, just as long you agree never to leave me," she told him was gave him a hug.

"Deal." With that, Kaito lowered his head and kissed her on the lips. After they broke apart a few minutes later, they smiled at each other and Kaito held out his hand. Aoko accepted it and they went down the stairs. Neither one complained as they went outside to meet a cheering crowd, with all the other three couples in the forefront.

"Did you know about this?" Kaito asked.

"Nope, did you?" she returned.

"Same here, and I really don't care either," he responded as they meet with their friends, Kaito's trip long forgotten.

**The End**


	9. Ending Notes

Afterlife

AN: Well, I'm just loading the edited version of _Afterlife_, which I planned on doing since I posted the final chapter. I do have an idea for a sequel, but I'm not for sure if I'm going to do it. If I do, it'll have to wait until I finish my other stories. Right now, the main story I'm working on is _Fires of Vengence_. If you haven't read and reviewed it, please do. It's a Detective Conan/Ranma ½/Inuyasha crossover. Unlike many of the crossovers I've read, I'm keeping the Canon pairings, and the way I have them crossover is believe able, at least to me. I'd really like it if everyone were to give it a chance. Well, I'll see you around if I do the sequel, or in one of my other stories. (Hopefully!)

_Fires of Vengence_ Story id 2460507


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